MAM
Ogilvy terminates worldwide CCO Tham Khai Meng
MUMBAI: Over the last six months, a handful of agency leaders have lost their jobs due to misconduct. The latest to join the list is from as agency Ogilvy. The company terminated its chief creative officer Tham Khai Meng after employees complained about unspecified violations of company policy, according to an internal memo from CEO John Seifert.
Meng had the role at the WPP firm since 2009, a role that effectively ended after a two-week investigation memo Seifert sent to his staffers globally.
Seifert did not specify the nature of these complaints in the memo but did state that he “found these complaints serious enough to appoint external legal counsel to investigate the matter”.
After stating that the subsequent investigation “concluded that Khai’s behavior was a clear breach of our company values and code of conduct,” Seifert confirmed that his employment with Ogilvy was terminated with immediate effect.
Khai joined Ogilvy in 1999 and went on to become one of advertising’s most visible, creative thought leaders. He was promoted to worldwide CCO and co-chairman in 2009 and served as the public face of one of the world’s oldest ad agencies.
MAM
Gurpreet Singh named President of DishTV Alumni Network
Former Dish TV executive to lead community building and collaboration.
MUMBAI: Back to the dish, but this time it’s about connections, not channels Gurpreet Singh is returning to familiar territory with a new mandate that swaps subscribers for relationships. Singh has been appointed President of the DishTV Alumni Network, a move aimed at strengthening ties among former employees and building a more engaged professional community around the Dish TV ecosystem. The initiative reflects a growing trend among large organisations to formalise alumni networks as platforms for collaboration, mentorship and business opportunities.
The appointment draws on Singh’s deep-rooted history with Dish TV, where he held multiple leadership roles over nearly a decade. As National Business Head between June 2019 and September 2020, he oversaw profit and loss as well as operations, managing revenues of Rs 6,000 crore and leading a team of around 1,250 employees across the country. His tenure included working alongside two regional business heads and 16 circle heads, underscoring the scale of operations he handled.
Prior to that, Singh served as Executive Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue from 2016 to 2019, and earlier as Senior Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue. He also briefly led international operations as Country Head for Sri Lanka, further expanding his exposure across markets.
His broader career spans leadership roles across telecom and consumer businesses, including a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Bharti Airtel’s Malawi operations, senior leadership roles at Reliance Communications, and earlier positions at Hindustan Sanitaryware and Kodak India, where he spent over a decade.
In his new role, Singh is expected to focus on reconnecting former employees, fostering collaboration, and building a structured alumni ecosystem that leverages shared experience and industry networks. As companies increasingly recognise the long-term value of their extended workforce, the DishTV Alumni Network appears set to turn nostalgia into a strategic asset, one connection at a time.
