MAM
JWT Mindset gets new leadership team
NEW DELHI: MUMBAI: JWT South Asia has announced two major changes in the leadership at the JWT Mindset, Hyderabad. JWT South Asia CEO, Colvyn Harris announced that MD Santha John will be taking up an advisory role as Chairman Emeritus and Ram Gedela will be taking over as a head of JWT Mindset effective from 1 January, 2014.
Santha John is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience. She established Mindset Advertising. along with Ram Gedela in 1998 that grew into one of the most awarded agencies across Hyderabad’s key sectors. JWT acquired a majority stake in Mindset Advertising in 2011 and was renamed as JWT Mindset.
Before setting up Mindset, John was the senior vice-president at Saatchi & Saatchi, Hyderabad.
Ram Gedela was 31 when he co-founded Mindset. Gedela has a senior management degree from IIM Calcutta. He was formerly group account manager, Saatchi & Saatchi, Delhi; and headed the account management team on prestigious clients such as Panasonic and the DuPont brands.
Announcing this, Colvyn Harris said, “In recognition of her contribution in bringing JWT Mindset to the forefront and making it a leading advertising agency in the South of India, Santha will continue her association with JWT in an advisory role. It’s been a pleasure working with Santha over the years, as she has partnered us comprehensively in the growth of JWT. I would like to thank her for helping us spread our footprint in this region and her contribution to our success.”
JWT Mindset consists of a team of 47 people and offers a full-service range of creative services, strategic planning and execution in digital, print and television. Its major clients include Airtel (AP& Kerala), ADP, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Coromandel International, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Food Fats & Fertilizers, Gati, HIL, HSBC, Oakridge Group, PHI Seeds, Videocon and LOT Mobiles amongst others.
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.
