GroupM India has elevated Ashwin Padmanabhan to president– investments, trading and partnerships, GroupM India. Earlier, Padmanabhan led trading and partnerships and in his new role, he will take on the investments portfolio from Sidharth Parashar.
Padmanabhan will continue to report to Prasanth Kumar, chief executive officer (CEO), South Asia, GroupM and be based out of Gurgaon. Over the next three months, Parashar and Padmanabhan will work closely to ensure a seamless transition into their respective new roles along with their key leadership team.
“GroupM, has been a fertile ground for innovation and creating value in a highly entrepreneurial environment. This expanded remit motivates me to renew my focus on the GroupM value proposition for our clients, media partners, and technology partners. We want to keep the momentum up with these relentless efforts toward improving today for a better tomorrow,” Padmanabhan said.
Parashar will join the APAC Mindshare leadership team as chief investment officer, Mindshare APAC and based out of Singapore. He will report to Helen McRae, chief executive officer, Mindshare APAC, and work to enhance Mindshare’s local market investment strategy and opportunity of Good Growth and Intentional Investment for the region.
“Sidharth has had a phenomenal career journey where the organisation has witnessed his evolution from a practice expert to a leader over the last 18 years with GroupM. He has successfully led the investment mandates across all media and has elevated the practice through innovative products and delivering exceptional value for our clients,” Kumar said.
Kumar further added, “Padmanabhan has a deep understanding of the business, and we continue to benefit from his knowledge of the media ecosystem. Focusing on cutting-edge innovation backed by his solid process orientation is a value add for clients. His ‘start up’ mindset has helped GroupM venture into new practices, deploying creativity to our products and solutions keeping client delight at the helm.”
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