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Ogilvy & Mather India establishes new management structure
MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) India has put in place a new management structure, which will be effective 1 March, 2015.
The announcement was made by O&M executive chairman and creative director – South Asia Piyush Pandey and O&M executive co-chairman and group chief operating officer – South Asia SN Rane.
In a statement, the duo said, “It is time that our very strong senior team joins us in all key management decisions of Ogilvy & Mather. Our clients should look forward to even greater impact from Ogilvy & Mather in the days ahead.”
In the new structure, the current Ogilvy India group chief digital officer Kunal Jeswani is promoted to Ogilvy & Mather India CEO. He will report directly to the chairmen’s office and will work in very close association with Geo/discipline heads, creative, planning and business leaders.
The current Ogilvy India executive finance director Hufrish Birdy is promoted to chief financial officer (CFO). She will also report directly to the chairmen’s office and work in close partnership with Jeswani, Geo and discipline heads and other key stake holders of the company.
Hephzibah Pathak will assume a new role as Ogilvy & Mather India global clients’ director. She will be associated with Vodafone, Mondelez (India+Global), KFC, Unilever, Coke and Fiat. Pathak, working with operation heads of 360 degree offerings, will be responsible for delivery that will meet client expectations. A detailed scope of work is being circulated amongst Geo/discipline heads and their business leaders.
The man who can be credited in building strong planning teams, Kawal Shoor has been promoted to national planning director. He will spearhead the next phase of development of planning and be responsible for the national planning agenda.
To top it all, the board of directors list has also been expanded. The existing India board comprising Pandey, Rane, Madhukar Sabnavis, Poran Malani, Pathak, Miles Young, Paul Heath, Paul Cocks and John Goodman is being expanded. The company has nominated Jeswani (CEO, India), Rajiv Rao (national creative director), Navin Talreja (president – Mumbai and Kolkata geography head) and Birdy (CFO, India) as additional Directors, which will be effective as soon as the legal compliances are completed.
MAM
Omnicom Advertising appoints Rohan Mehta as Chief Transformation Officer
Veteran digital leader to unify capabilities across Kinnect, BBDO, TBWA\Lintas, McCann and Mudra.
MUMBAI: Rohan Mehta is about to transform the way Omnicom Advertising works – because when you’ve already turned a three-person startup into a 600-strong powerhouse, scaling an entire creative network is the next logical campaign. Omnicom Advertising has appointed Rohan Mehta as chief transformation officer, effective January 2026. In this pivotal group-level role, he will shape the capability architecture for one of India’s most influential creative collectives, integrating the strengths of Kinnect, BBDO, 22Feet Tribal, TBWA\Lintas, McCann, Ulka, and Mudra.
Mehta’s mandate is to convert individual agency excellence into a scalable, plug-and-play deployment model. This will make high-impact capabilities in Digital Media, Influencer Marketing, CRM, and emerging technologies easily accessible across the entire Omnicom network in India.
With a distinguished 17-year career in the digital and technology sectors, Mehta brings deep expertise to the role. He joins after a highly successful tenure as Founder and CEO of Kinnect (later FCB Kinnect), where he grew a bootstrapped three-person startup into a 600-strong, multi-award-winning agency. Earlier in his career, he honed his foundational skills in global IT infrastructure and service delivery at Allied Digital.
Mehta seamlessly blends technical rigour with creative innovation, making him ideally suited to lead Omnicom Advertising’s strategic transformation.
From building a digital agency from scratch to now unifying some of India’s biggest creative powerhouses, Rohan Mehta’s journey has been anything but ordinary. As he steps into this new role, he carries the rare ability to turn complex capabilities into simple, powerful solutions – exactly what a transforming advertising group needs in today’s fast-evolving market.
In an industry where change is the only constant, Omnicom has clearly decided it’s time to bring in a leader who doesn’t just adapt to transformation – he architects it.
