MAM
Portfolio Evening champions the next wave of strategists
MUMBAI: The country’s strategy scene got a lively shake-up as Warc and DDB Mudra Group hosted the first-ever Portfolio Evening: Strategy Edition in Mumbai, giving young planners a rare chance to put their ideas under the spotlight.
The industry-first initiative brought together 40 emerging strategists with 0–5 years of experience and 20 seasoned jurors from leading agencies and brands. Each participant showcased two pieces of work, diving into problem-definition, insight-mining and strategic recommendations. The atmosphere felt part masterclass, part creative speed-dating, with participants receiving direct, practical and candid advice from some of India’s sharpest strategic thinkers.
DDB Mudra Group national strategy head Shashank Lanjekar, said the new format offered the kind of springboard young talent often misses. He added that having strategy veteran Madhukar Sabnavis in the room uplifted the evening, as he broke down what defines a truly powerful strategy using well-loved brand examples.
From Warc, India Editor Biprorshee Das highlighted the growing recognition of strategy as the engine of modern marketing, noting that the event mirrors Warc’s mission to build braver and more effective thinking through evidence-driven practice.
At the end of the reviews, three rising stars: Khushi Sharma, Chintan Mehta and Khushi Karve, were named the winners of the debut edition. Their prize: exclusive access to Warc’s Creative Impact Unpacked from Cannes, giving them a close look at global creative effectiveness.
Warc also presented insights from its new report, The Future of Strategy 2025, outlining how AI, culture and creativity are reshaping the strategist’s role in today’s fast-moving marketing landscape.
The evening drew an impressive jury lineup featuring Aditi Patwardhan, Anirban Mozumdar, Dheeraj Sinha, Ekta Relan, Ganapathy Balagopalan, Jitender Dabas, Kawal Shoor, Kirti Meera Sharad, Layla Khan, Mehak Jaini, Menaka Menon, Noor Samra, Prem Narayan, Rajesh Sharma, S Subramanyeswar, Sabiha Khan, Sanchari Chakrabarty, Shashank Lanjekar, T Gangadhar and Toru Jhaveri.
With its mix of mentorship, industry insight and real-world critique, Portfolio Evening: Strategy Edition set a fresh tone for how the next generation of thinkers can learn, grow and shape the future of effective marketing.
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.
