MAM
Omnicom Group’s Annalect India elevates its executive leadership team
Annalect India on Thursday announced the elevation of their executive leadership team in India. The company will be completing their 10-year milestone journey in India this August as Omnicom’s delivery and capability centre. Annalect India currently has four centres of excellence in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad, with a strength of over 1200+ employees in the field of Tech, creative services, marketing science, media and global shared services.
Effective immediately, Vishal Srivatsava, former president, Annalect India, will be taking up the role of chief executive officer, Annalect India.
In addition, Annalect India is launching three key organizations to drive growth and efficiency in the business outcomes and promoting leaders to take the charge of each.
Operations Organization: Kiran Guruswami has been a partner in the growth journey from day one of Annalect India’s inception for the last 10- years and he will take charge as the chief operating officer. All business units including media services, marketing science, technology services, creative services, global shared services and governance will report to him.
Client Success Organization: Kaushik Srinivasan will take charge as the chief client officer. This team will be responsible for driving our exponential growth and engaging with clients and Omnicom agencies to drive current and emerging capabilities.
People and Culture Organization: Devya Patney will take charge as the chief people and culture officer. All people-centric units (employee experience, talent transformation, talent acquisition, HR services & tech, Annalect India academy, administration, employer branding & communication) will report to her.
All the above leaders will continue to report to Vishal Srivastava.
Speaking on the occasion, Annalect Group chief financial officer & chief operating officer Steve Tobengauz said, “We will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary this August. So far this year, we have witnessed immense growth in talent, and support from Omnicom Group partners. We are confident of our strategy given the solid results and are going to double this year and expected to quadruple in next few years.
Our vision will require us to rethink our operating model, and ways of working. To help lead through this we are initially focusing on evolving our leadership structure to ensure that our people, agency partners and clients are supported. Vishal and the executive leadership team have been instrumental in the company’s success. I’m inspired by Vishal’s leadership with genuine concern for our people and culture. It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without the support of the entire rockstar Annalect India management team.”
Newly elevated Vishal Srivastava added, “I take immense pride and satisfaction in leading such an amazing group of talent at Annalect India. As I take on the role of CEO, I also believe it takes a team to get the job done and support from everyone as we work towards it. I am privileged and thankful to be surrounded by great leaders in this organization. We are excited about the great future of our organization and the business value it delivers to Omnicom agencies and their clients”
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
