Mumbai: dentsu international on Monday announced the appointment of Rashmi Vikram as the agency’s chief equity officer in APAC.

Rashmi joins dentsu from Microsoft, where she was group diversity & inclusivity practice lead, responsible for delivering success by making inclusion a habit to create inclusive products and services for Microsoft’s customers. Prior to Microsoft, she was country head for India at Community Business, an NGO that champions inclusive business practices in Asia. Her other roles have included diversity & Inclusion specialist at Thomson Reuters.

The agency’s global executive team is hiring chief equity officers in each of its three regions to demonstrate dentsu’s commitment to making long-term sustainable change within business and in society. Rashmi joins chief equity officer, Americas, Christina Pyle and recently appointed chief equity officer, EMEA, Pauline Miller. 

Dentsu international Asia Pacific CEO Ashish Bhasin said, “Dentsu’s strength lies in making a difference. To do that, we seek out diverse perspectives, celebrate differences and empower everyone to bring their most authentic self to work. We encourage our leaders to build diverse teams, teams with a healthy, vibrant culture. A culture that enables every employee to do great work, build a phenomenal career and know they belong. We are very excited to have Rashmi on board to champion Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and we look forward to working with her to chart meaningful progress for our businesses in APAC.”

Rashmi will report to dentsu international Asia Pacific CEO Ashish Bhasin and regional human resource director, Asia Pacific, Kinch Ong. “Rashmi has a solid track-record in the DEI space, and I have no doubt she will inspire and make a difference. She will ensure that DEI is interwoven into the fabric of our organisation, fostering an even richer culture and experience for our people, clients and partners," said Ong.

On joining dentsu, Rashmi Vikram said, “I am passionate about the work I do and am excited to be working with the global, regional and country teams at dentsu to champion, reinforce and build an inclusive culture.”