Brands
JioBlackRock Investment Advisers appoints Madhurita Sengupta as CMO
MUMBAI: JioBlackRock Investment Advisers has brought in a familiar marketing heavyweight to sharpen its pitch to India’s investors. Madhurita Sengupta has been appointed chief marketing officer at the wealth and advisory firm, a 50:50 joint venture between Jio Financial Services and global asset management giant BlackRock.
Sengupta will steer brand strategy, customer engagement and the digital marketing agenda as the firm builds a new, investor-first platform aimed at India’s fast-growing retail and affluent audience. Simply put, she will be the voice and feel of how JioBlackRock speaks to investors who are increasingly curious, cautious and digitally savvy.
Her appointment comes at a time when the joint venture is stepping up its ambition to make investing more accessible, transparent and centred on real customer needs, rather than jargon-heavy advice.
Sengupta brings with her nearly two decades of experience across banking, telecom and technology. Before taking on the CMO role in March 2025, she worked on special projects at Jio Financial Services. Prior to that, she led digital sales for Amazon Web Services across India and Saarc, a role that blended technology, growth and sharp customer insight.
Her earlier stints include senior leadership roles at DBS Bank, where she drove digital sales, growth marketing and customer engagement, as well as marketing positions at Vodafone and HSBC. Across these roles, she has built a reputation for combining brand storytelling with performance-led digital strategy.
An XLRI Jamshedpur alumna with a background in engineering from Jadavpur University, Sengupta’s career arc reflects a rare mix of analytical rigour and creative flair.
For JioBlackRock, the message is clear. As investing becomes more mainstream and competitive, winning hearts may matter as much as winning wallets. Sengupta’s brief is to make that conversation simpler, smarter and a lot more human.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
