MAM
Starcom MediaVest Group India bolsters its senior team
MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) India has bolstered its senior leadership team with the hiring of two key executives. Natasha Kapoor joins the agency as SMG Mumbai VP and Gautam Surath as strategic planning VP.
In a newly created role, Kapoor will be responsible for client service, product delivery and growth for the Mumbai market. Kapoor has more than 15 years of media experience. Her last job was at Samsung India, where she handled investment, brand activation and strategy for its media procurement and process audit division. Prior to that, she was a media purchases director at Mediacom where she handled television buying for the Procter & Gamble team. She also has worked on the Unilever business at Fulcrum and Mindshare.
“I believe SMG offers a unique opportunity in the market for staff and clients alike. Nowhere else in India can you find a world class Digital and Data and Analytics practice coupled with great media tools, systems and thinking resulting in a great all round product. It is a wonderfully challenging assignment and I am looking forward to it,” said Kapoor.
Surath will be responsible for strategic planning, training and guiding the digital transition of SMG’s clients across its offices. He is an SMG veteran having worked for the company from 2003 in both India and China. For the past four years he has been at SMG China business director, where he was strategy lead on multiple categories of the Procter & Gamble business. His responsibilities included the development of tools and systems to improve productivity and focus on product development. Prior to his posting in China, he spent six years on the P&G planning AOR team in India.
“Quite frankly, having started my career at Starcom and having worked here ever since, moving back to the India office from China was a bit of a no-brainer. Having seen the company evolve with evolving consumer trends, I have no doubt that our vision is the right one. Exposure to the global marketplace has only strengthened my belief in this regard. Exciting times in India and it’s great to be back home!” said Surath.
“Natasha and Gautam bring key skillsets to complement and enhance our offering to clients in India and both Malli and I look forward to working with them,” said SMG India chairman Hanley King.
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
