MAM
PRCAI elects new managing committee; to undertake initiatives on raising the bar of excellence
MUMBAI: The Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) has announced the new managing committee for the year 2005 – 2006. Madison Public Relations CEO Veena Gidwani has been appointed as president of PRCAI.
In its third year, the PRCAI office bearers aim to provide an ‘institutional’ structure and focus to the public relations industry.
The formation of the new committee was necessitated by former PRCAI president Ajay Kakar who is now moving to ADA Enterprises from O&M.
Gidwani said, “PRCAI will focus on bringing standards and professionalism into the business. An interesting and active calendar of activities has been planned for the year. We also plan to introduce the first ever ‘Certification Programme’ for practicing professionals called PR-Sat.”
PRCAI vice president Nandita Lakshmanan added, “This will ensure that the talent working in the industry is consistently investing in upgrading their skills and clients continue to receive high quality service.”
To ensure a wider member body representation and faster adoption of standards, new roles in the various regions have been created and office bearers elected by the general body.
The complete list of the new PRCAI Committee for 2005-06 is as under:
President – Madison Public Relations CEO Veena Gidwani
Vice president – The PRactice CEO Nandita Lakshmanan
Secretary – Hanmer & Partners principal Sunil Gautam
Chairperson (North) – Perfect Relations director Bobby Kewalramani
Vice Chairperson (North) – 20:20 Media GM Finance Chetan Mahajan
Chairperson (West) – Genesis Public Relations managing partner Deepshikha Dharmaraj
Vice Chairperson (West) – Concept Public Relations COO Himanshu Kapadia
Chairperson (South) – Genesis Public Relations managing partner Sheena Sharma
Vice Chairperson (South) – 20:20 Media GM South Ian Sequiera
Chairperson (East) – DMA director Supriya C Das
Vice Chairperson (East) – Perfect Relations consultant Prakriti Gondotra
The president, vice president, secretary and the four regional chairpersons will now constitute the managing committee. Prema Sagar, principal and founder Genesis Public Relations and founding president, PRCAI continues as a member of the managing committee as the past president for a period of one year.
MAM
WPP appoints Estée Lauder’s Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer
Former Estée Lauder executive to lead operations, technology and culture overhaul under WPP’s three-year growth plan
LONDON: WPP has appointed Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer in a newly created role tasked with delivering the group’s Elevate28 strategy.
Choueiri joins from The Estée Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including the “One ELC” operating model and major upgrades to enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities. She also led the redesign of enterprise technology teams and served on the company’s AI taskforce, driving AI strategy, adoption and value realisation across the business.
At WPP, she will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operating model behind Elevate28, the company’s three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026. She will lead efforts to improve innovation, efficiency and integration across WPP’s client offerings, with a focus on delivering agile, outcome-driven solutions and measurable growth.
Choueiri will oversee organisational transformation across the group, working closely with product and enterprise technology teams to deploy AI, data and technology to build new capabilities and improve operational performance. She will also work with the people function to embed cultural change, strengthen an agile performance mindset and support talent development across the organisation.
Before joining Estée Lauder, she held senior roles across consulting and digital agencies, including at Accenture, Masaï (a Bain & Company spin-off), and Kearney, with experience spanning strategy, data and digital marketing transformation.
Cindy Rose, chief executive officer of WPP, said Choueiri brings a strong track record of leading large-scale transformation across operations, technology and culture, adding that her appointment will help accelerate the group’s next phase of growth under Elevate28.
Choueiri said WPP’s strategy represents an ambitious opportunity to reshape how the company operates and delivers for clients, adding that she looks forward to building integrated solutions and fostering a culture of innovation and change.
She will be based in New York and will join WPP’s executive committee.
