MAM
MullenLowe Lintas elevates Naveen Gaur as Group COO, growth & innovation
Mumbai: In view of the ever-changing marketing landscape, MullenLowe Lintas Group plans to further consolidate its offering beyond strategy and creative. To this end, Naveen Gaur has been elevated as Group COO – growth and innovation, MullenLowe Lintas Group.
Gaur’s mandate will be to strengthen the areas of marketing services that agencies within the Group offer – such as PR, digital, content creation and production, experiential, design, analytics, and MarTech. In addition to this, Gaur will also lead the marketing, reputation, and strategic growth initiatives for the Group.
In his previous role as the deputy CEO of Lowe Lintas, he was overseeing the existing key business relationships and founding new ones. Gaur’s association with Lintas goes back to 2010 when he was branch head of Lowe Lintas Delhi where he encouraged an entrepreneurial culture of growth and business excellence. Under his leadership, the agency added large mandates that are a healthy mix of start-ups and established brands. He is also credited with deepening the agency’s relationship with Google, Pernod Ricard, Nestle, and Cargill foods.
MullenLowe Lintas Group – Group CCO and chairman, Amer Jaleel, who has worked closely with Gaur on marquee brands of the Group like Havells, Google and OLX amongst others, said: “I’ve worked with Naveen as a partner for over 10 eventful years. He stands firmly proud of owning the intersection on brand and business. And would be fearless in pointing out the lack of either in a piece of work he would be judging. And that shows his innate understanding of both. Naveen remains oddly unserious despite having seen through hundreds of crises. He switches seamlessly and this quality is what Lintas wants to capitalise on to ride into its most transformative phase ever. Naveen will help broaden the scope of what it means to be a brand in the new age.”
After leading Lowe Lintas into its next phase of growth as its deputy CEO, he will now be tasked with replicating the success for marketing services of the Group – Lintas Live, dCell, LinEngage, Lintas C:EX, and LinConsult. Naveen will aggressively grow these already strong suite of specialist services as well as develop new ones through an effective combination of build, acquire and collaborate.
Commenting on the elevation, MullenLowe Lintas Group- Group CEO, Virat Tandon said, “We are living in very exciting times as we see shifts in the entire marketing landscape. This presents us with a great opportunity to extend our services across the spectrum of creative solutions eco-system. Naveen is a stalwart in the advertising business and is an entrepreneur at heart. There can be no one better to lead the agencies in developing and growing this ecosystem. We will be looking at serving our existing clients better by using our ‘Hyperbundled’ creative solutions process to bring all the specialist services around the client goals. At the same time, this eco-system will also develop their own independent clients and growth agenda. I am very excited to see Naveen take up this role.”
Talking about the elevation, Naveen Gaur said, “Growth and value creation drive me. I am honored that the Group has entrusted me with this role and responsibility to make some bold moves and create future leading offerings and take the Group to the next level. I am looking forward to doing new things that will make me sleepless again.”
Gaur assumes the new role from 1 September and he will be handing over his current responsibilities over the next few months to the new leadership at Lowe Lintas which will be announced soon. This transition will be completed by the end of 2021, the organisation said.
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.
