MAM
Havas shuffles two key executives to drive growth
MUMBAI: Havas has made some changes, shuffling people within its sister outfits. Andrew Benett has been appointed as Havas Worldwide global president and Robert LePlae as Arnold Worldwide global CEO.
Both will report to David Jones, who will remain Global CEO of the Havas Worldwide network.
Benett will retain his chief strategy officer role at Havas Creative Group. He is currently Arnold Worldwide (Havas‘ creative company) global CEO. In the new role, he will assume responsibility for leading the day-to-day management of the global network.
Benett has been with Havas for nearly a decade. Prior to his role at Arnold Worldwide, he served as global chief strategy officer for Euro RSCG Worldwide and CEO of Euro RSCG New York. During his recent three-year tenure leading Arnold Worldwide, he and his team grew the agency by more than 30 per cent, winning and growing relationships with clients including The Hershey Company, Jack Daniel‘s, Unilever, Volvo, American Eagle Outfitters and fab.com. The team also dramatically enhanced the agency‘s digital capabilities, while expanding the micronetwork‘s offerings in Amsterdam, London, Moscow, Shanghai and Sydney.
Benett said, “I am very proud of what we‘ve accomplished and delivered together. The leadership team at Arnold is one of the most passionate and committed I‘ve seen, and they are further strengthened by the expertise and experience Robert brings. I am looking forward to my new role. Havas Worldwide‘s digital strength and leadership in the areas of social media and social responsibility have put the agency at the cutting edge of the industry and we have high expectations of what we can accomplish in 2013.”
LePlae was previously Arnold Worldwide global president. He brings a wealth of experience to his new role. He spent 11 years at TBWA, including five years as CEO of TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles, leading to his appointment as president of TBWA North America. He also spent two years in Japan as founding CEO of an international joint venture company to run the Nissan business globally. He is considered to have been a cornerstone in the emergence of TBWA Worldwide as a leading global creative network. Immediately prior to joining Arnold, he served as McCann Worldgroup North America president.
“When I joined Havas last year, its reputation as the most agile, entrepreneurial and integrated of all the big communications groups was incredibly appealing. Stepping into the CEO position at Arnold is an inspiring chance to deliver results for a first-rate group of clients, and to lead a world-class, innovative team at Arnold,” added LePlae.
“Both Robert and Andrew will have a similar focus in their new roles – making successful businesses even more successful. When we moved Andrew to Arnold, we put him there to develop and execute a plan to turn around the agency – he‘s done that very successfully. The move to Havas Worldwide provides a different opportunity as the agency is coming off one of the best new business streaks in its history, having in the last few weeks won the global Unilever data business, the European Central Bank account, Louis Vuitton globally, Berluti globally, and Citibank CRM and eCRM as just a few of the highlights. His key focus will be leveraging his strategic strength to lead the business to even more rapid growth,” said Jones.
Jones added, “This is an incredibly exciting time for our industry, presenting fantastic opportunities for big talents like Andrew and Robert, who are motivated by change. The momentum at Havas is very strong at the moment, following the successful rebranding of Euro RSCG to Havas Worldwide, the unique co-location of all our media, creative and digital teams into one building in Paris and in New York, and a great fourth quarter of new business wins and digital growth. These senior management moves represent another important step in delivering our strategic plan.”
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
