MAM
Starcom appoints Rachana Shah Monteiro as senior VP
Mumbai: Media communications agency Starcom India has beefed up its leadership team and appointed Rachana Shah Monteiro as West head for India. As senior vice president, she will be responsible for leading and strengthening client relationships and business growth for the West office.
Rachana comes with over two decades of experience in the media management ecosystem, from integrated strategy to investment planning & buying. In her career, she has worked with a number of media firms, across holding companies and handled iconic brands such as Gillette, Vicks, Heinz, Diageo, and Vodafone among others.
In her last stint at Mediacom, she led the AOR for P&G Indian sub-continent.
Welcoming Rachana on board, Starcom India, COO, Niti Kumar said, “She has a proven record in managing large businesses and teams and her expertise will help us drive more value for our diverse portfolio of clients. We have a fabulous team in Mumbai and I am confident that with Rachana at the helm they will strive toward greater heights.”
Talking about her new role, Rachana said, “I strongly believe that the entire media agency model is segueing towards the collaboration of specialisations, in driving omnichannel marketing for the client. Starcom has a heterogeneous, very strong portfolio of clients and is known for bringing in compelling brand experiences through the use of data and technology. I look forward to delivering integrated value propositions that drive immense growth for clients and further strengthening Starcom’s culture of innovation and collaboration.”
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.
