MAM
Omnicom elevates Jyoti Bansal, Shavon Barua
MUMBAI: Omnicom Media Group has strengthened the leadership of its media agency, PHD India, having promoted Jyoti Bansal to the role of CEO and Shavon Barua to chief client officer.
The promotions follow the exceptional growth and performance of the agency over the past few years under these leaders’ tenures.
An engineering and MBA graduate, Bansal joined Omnicom Media Group in 2009 to lead its new business initiatives and when PHD India was established, she was appointed to lead the new agency. Under her leadership, the agency has continued to climb from strength to strength, winning global, regional and local accolades for its innovative approach to communications planning. As CEO, Bansal will focus on expanding PHD’s footprint in India through continued digital transformation and innovation in the media space.
Barua joined PHD in 2015 as managing partner to work on the Hindustan Unilever business from the agency’s Mumbai office. Over the past three years, she has played an instrumental role in growing the business, gaining invaluable experience that she will now leverage in her new role. As CCO, Barua will now work closely with Bansal to further develop PHD’s market-leading and award-winning client offering.
Speaking on the promotions, Omnicom Media Group India CEO Harish Shriyan said, “With a unique leadership mix of Jyoti’s media prowess and Shavon’s creative background, PHD India has soared to incredible heights over the past few years, becoming one of India’s most acclaimed media agencies. These well-deserved promotions will ensure PHD India continues to scale new heights, as they continue to find a better way for their team, clients and partners.”
“Over the years, we have built a highly differentiated offering in the market, rooted in a culture of smart strategic thinking and creative innovation,” said Bansal. “From a young challenger brand in the market to winning Media Agency of the Year, the last five years have been an exhilarating journey. I look forward to continuing forging a future-ready agency, helping clients’ future-proof their businesses and working with the team to produce more industry-leading work.”
Barua added: “At PHD, our mission has always been about ‘finding a better way’ to produce innovative communications solutions work for our clients. In my new capacity, I look forward to combining gamification techniques with hard-core strategic principles to spark further innovation and deliver stronger business results for our clients.’’
The promotions are effective immediately.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
