MAM
JWT ropes Matchett as chief creative officer & national executive creative director
MUMBAI: JWT India has roped in Bruce Matchett as the chief creative officer and national executive creative director.
Matchett was earlier with Ogilvy & Mather Australia and New Zealand as chief creative officer at Singleton.
JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris said, “This is the culmination of our global search to hire the best chief creative officer and national executive creative director. We have been most discerning. Bruce represents our relentless pursuit to develop creative work to global standards.”
Matchett is credited with some of Australia’s best loved advertising for brands like Toohey’s, Coke, Qantas, BMW, among others. Prior to Ogilvy, Matchett was with Saatchi & Saatchi, besides holding various positions in the UK and New Zealand.
Matchett’s reputation as a talented and a path breaking creative person precedes him, as much his acclaimed creative leadership. He has been known to build a passionate drive amongst his team mates to excel and create work that builds brands and sells. He will bring a skill and standard by which JWT India can benchmark its future work.
Harris further added, “He will provide the freshness and a new sensibility to Indian advertising – something the industry really needs. We want our clients to continue to be market leaders, to lead in the standards they set, and we wish to partner this. Bruce and JWT India vice president and executive creative director Agnello Dias will form the new team who will shoulder our client and brand responsibilities with our existing creative team.”
Commenting on his appointment, Matchett said, “I am looking forward to working for JWT in India. India as a market is vastly different from any other country that I have worked in. To me, India represents both a challenge and an opportunity, and the excitement will be in decoding the cultural diversity that exists in the Indian market.”
JWT Worldwide chief creative officer Craig Davis said, “Bruce has the talent, passion and energy to raise standards in the Indian market. He has worked on some of the largest and most progressive brands in the UK and Australasia and he is an inspiration to young creative talent. Bruce has the perfect disposition for the national creative director’s role. He will learn a lot in India and has a lot to offer in return.”
JWT Worldwide president Michael Maedel said, “The success of companies in our business is determined by its talent and in particular the relationship between the CEO and the national executive creative director. In Colvyn and Bruce, we have a dream team in India who I believe will deliver outstanding results in one of our most important markets.”
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
