Yaap Digital appoints Raj Nayak as chairman and managing director after Atul Hegde’s sudden death

MUMBAI: Yaap Digital has moved quickly to steady the ship, naming Raj Nayak as chairman and managing director just a week after founder Atul Hegde’s sudden death on 7 July. The board’s decision was unanimous, and the logic behind it is straightforward: Nayak has known Hegde for nearly 25 years and has spent the last two sitting on Yaap’s advisory board, giving him a ringside view of the strategy he now inherits.

Hegde was not just Yaap’s founder but its architect, having built the business into a technology-led, digital-first marketing outfit from the ground up. His death leaves a gap the company openly admits cannot be filled, though it insists the leadership team, culture and strategic direction he put in place remain firmly intact.

Nayak arrives with three decades in India’s media and communications industry behind him, having held leadership roles at STAR TV, NDTV Media and Viacom18, alongside stints as president of The Advertising Club and the IAA India chapter, and board positions at the Media Research Users Council and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. It is a résumé built for exactly this kind of moment.

Nayak himself was candid about the circumstances, saying he had stepped away from corporate life to pursue entrepreneurship before Hegde’s sudden passing pulled him back in. He was careful to frame the move as continuity rather than replacement, insisting no one can replace Hegde and that his job is to support the existing leadership team and protect the vision Hegde built.

Sudhir Menon, promoter of the YAAP Group, welcomed the appointment, calling Nayak’s bond with both Hegde and the company a natural fit for deepening the partnership going forward.

For Yaap, the test now is whether a swift, sentimental handover can hold up against the harder business of running a listed marketing company without the founder who built it. Nayak has the pedigree and the goodwill; what happens next is entirely on him.