MAM
Mindshare ups Gowthaman to chief client officer for Asia Pacific
MUMBAI: Mindshare have appointed R. Gowthaman as Chief Client Officer for the Asia Pacific region, effective 1 January 2012.
In his previous role, Gowthaman was leading Mindshare for South Asia.
Gowthaman will be based in Singapore and report to Mindshare APac CEO Ashutosh Srivastava. He will lead a team of regional client leaders who provide strategic direction and coordination for Mindshare’s work on key regional and global accounts across all Asia Pacific countries.
His appointment to this new role comes at a time when Mindshare has expanded the scope of services it provides to its existing clients – especially in Marketing RoI management, research and insights, communications strategy, performance marketing, digital media, branded content creation and distribution, and newer and more innovative media trading approaches.
Unlike the industry trend towards launching new specialist companies and silos, Mindshare has placed its strategic bets on integrated client teams featuring talent from all these streams, customised to each client’s needs. There have been a string of appointments across the region in the specialist skills areas reflecting this trend over the past few years.
Srivastava said, “with the fusion of technology with media and the accompanying deluge of data, marketers are seeing more specialist talent and agencies involved in their business than ever before. They have to manage a far more complex ecosystem to get value from all their partners. So they see huge value in strong agency client leaders – people with sound understanding of their brands and of media & technology, who can help them facilitate more impactful and integrated marketing solutions working with various specialists. We are attracting new talent and developing broader skills amongst our key client leaders so we can do this on bigger scale. Gowthaman’s appointment is a reflection of the importance Mindshare has placed on this breed of talent.”
GroupM CEO for South Asia Vikram Sakhuja said, “Gowthaman has done a fine job of laying the architecture of the new MindShare in India, by re-shaping the organization into one capable of delivering business planning, integrated communication solutions and robust media implementation for its Clients via highly customized offerings. In the process he has re-enforced Mindshare’s supremacy in India as being not only India’s largest Media Agency, but also the best.”
Mindshare’s Ravi Rao will succeed Gowthaman in the position of Leader, South Asia effective 1 January 2012. In his previous role, Rao was leading the South Asian operation for Team Unilever since 2009.
Sakhuja said, “In the last two years Ravi has run the Team Unilever operation successfully on the back of securing the business in 2010 across South Asia. Since then Team Unilever has won various awards in Content, Digital, Communication Planning across local, regional and global making it one of the crown jewels in the media world. In his new role as Leader South Asia, Ravi Rao will bring in his wealth of experience in Strategic Planning, Research, Content, Digital and forming Strategic Alliances to position Mindshare as their clients’ lead business partner in South Asia.“
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
