MAM
Leo Burnett promotes Ajeeta Bharadwaj as Planning Head for Mumbai
MUMBAI: Leo Burnett India has boosted its senior team and strategy offering by promoting Ajeeta Bharadwaj to the role of Planning Head in Mumbai.
Bharadwaj, who was previously Executive Planning Director, will report to, Leo Burnett Chief Strategy Officer – South Asia Dheeraj Sinha.
Confirming the development, Sinha said, “Bharadwaj has been one of the strongest pillars of strategy at Leo Burnett India. She has made an unparelled contribution in shaping the future of several brands that we work on. Bharadwaj is fully steeped into our HumanKind philosophy and is an astute practitioner of the HumanKind tools. She has also led and developed several knowledge and insight projects over the years. Not only is this promotion very well deserved, it also comes at an opportune time, when we are building a huge momentum around our strategy function. With Bharadwaj as the leader in Mumbai, we will continue to up the temperature on sharp insights, leading to great work for our clients.”
Bharadwaj added on her new role saying, “It has been an amazing journey at Leo Burnett. I have had the good fortune to work on some incredible brands and with some incredible partners, both among clients and within the agency. And I truly believe that the best is yet to come. We are doing some fantastic work and each piece is making us hungrier for more and better. In my new role, I’m looking forward to working closely with Dheeraj in producing new-age work that would help us in our constant endeavour to reach for the stars.”
Bharadwaj has 15 years of experience in brand planning and strategy. Brands she has worked on include HDFC Life, P&G, Tata Sampann, Emami, Star Plus, Heinz, Coke, Sony Entertainment Television, CavinKare, Anchor, AXN, Sony Pix, Godrej, Qi Spine Clinic and Fiat.
She and her team have also received 12 LeoIntel stars for innovative category and culture thinking across the Leo Burnett WW network.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
