Hires & Promotions: ACKO, HUL, Rediffusion

Sanjeev S, Former MD & CEO, Bharti AXA General Insurance, joins ACKO

ACKO has named Sanjeev S as part of its leadership team. Sanjeev will also be joining the Board of Directors of ACKO Insurance. 

Sanjeev's appointment comes at a crucial juncture as ACKO gears up for scale and rapid growth. Sanjeev's extensive experience coupled with ACKO's technology prowess will help the company realize its vision for growth and innovation.

"In the last four years, ACKO has pioneered many firsts, from direct-to-consumer insurance to embedded insurance, and has also brought the customer back into focus with fair pricing, seamless claims, and built a new-age brand. From an upstart, it has created a strong platform and taken the first step, and ACKO needs strong leaders for its next phase. Leaders who imbibe the same values and passion bring their wealth of experience", said Varun Dua, Founder & CEO of ACKO. "We couldn't have asked for anything better than having Sanjeev come on board with his 20+ years of experience. In Sanjeev, we have a partner who can propel the vision forward and play a crucial role in getting ACKO ready for its innings at scale," he added.

An industry veteran, Sanjeev has over 20 years of experience working with leading companies such as Fullerton India Credit, and ING Vysya Life Insurance, among others. He has taken on diverse roles in the sector ranging from sales, planning, and distribution to marketing and managing business across different verticals. Sanjeev’s last role was the CEO of Bharti AXA General Insurance which recently merged with ICICI Lombard.

Commenting on his new role, Sanjeev S said, "It's heartening to see what the young and dynamic team at ACKO has already created in the first four years of being in business - the collective resolve to make insurance convenient, transparent, and interesting for customers is infectious and deeply inspiring. It's a great opportunity to build on this solid foundation and culture and make the collective vision a reality."

"As a platform, ACKO empowers customers to have a preference in buying products and services. This is backed by data and insight, which help ACKO differentiate and customize its offerings. This fundamental shift in consumer behaviour creates a huge opportunity for ACKO. It enables delivery of simple and transparent propositions through technology that is easy to engage, he further added."

HUL’s Gaurav Jeet Singh moves on after a 13-year-long stint

Gaurav Jeet Singh, General Manager Media- South Asia at Unilever has reportedly stepped down from his role. As per reliable sources, Singh is moving to a global digital platform. Singh has been with Unilever for over 13 years.

At Unilever, Singh has been responsible for driving media attributable business growth across all brands & categories in South Asia.  He is credited for building media models to drive consumers across DTC (direct to consumer), E-commerce, and Traditional trade (online & offline sales).

As per his LinkedIn profile, Singh also sphere-headed campaigns for the brand across platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and emerging OTT platforms.

Prior to the current role, he was the Marketing Manager- Pureit, responsible for the category P&L and built Direct to Consumer (DTC) businesses in Unilever. Before that he did various Sales leadership roles at Unilever leading high-performing sales teams and setting up a premium beauty sales system.

Rediffusion appoints Rajendra Gupta as its Chief Growth Officer

Rediffusion has appointed Rajendra Gupta as its Chief Growth Officer, based at its corporate office in Mumbai. An engineer from BHU-IT and an MBA from FMS Delhi, Gupta has been in advertising, industrial solutions and telecom for well over 35 years. This will be Rajendra Gupta’s second stint at Rediffusion. He earlier worked at Rediffusion Delhi and Mumbai from 1994 to 2002. 

“Rajendra will be a group resource with growth and business development responsibilities across Rediffusion, Everest, Rediffusion Healthcare, Rediffusion Direct (recently rechristened Rediffusion FutureTech), Rediffusion SmartMedia, Mogae Media and the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB). Rajendra will be based in Mumbai,” the company said.

In his earlier tenure at Rediffusion, Gupta was instrumental in bringing the coveted Bharti group business to the agency. He was part of the team that launched Airtel in 1995. During his previous stint, Rajendra led successful pitches to bring in Casio, Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Atlas cycles, Singer sewing machines, BPL, and many more accounts to the agency.

“Rajendra is special. He is also Rediffusion’s lucky mascot for new business and new horizons. He combines the aggressiveness of a good salesman with a very good understanding of technology. And over the years he has become excellent advertising professional. Such a combination of virtues and talent is rare,” says Dr Sandeep Goyal, Managing Director of Rediffusion.

“Rediffusion is my home. I have had some of my biggest professional successes and victories here. I hope that track record remains intact and unblemished in this innings too,” adds Rajendra Gupta.

Rajendra had worked at Dunlop and Wipro before joining Rediffusion in the mid-’90s. He was seconded to Bharti twice by Rediffusion – first to Airtel Delhi and then to Bharti Madhya Pradesh to work as an expert implant in than growing, new company. Rajendra has also worked in telecom with Reliance for over a decade.