Hires & Promotions: WPP, FCB Ulka, Uber, Havas India, Paytm Money

Priya Barve joins WPP as client lead for HUL

Priya Barve has joined WPP as India’s client lead for Hindustan Unilever (HUL). Barve brings over two decades of experience in advertising and marketing, and has held leadership roles with Google, Mondelez, and Leo Burnett across Asia-Pacific. She brings a rich and diverse perspective on communications and media, having worked on both - the agency and client side, as well as with tech platforms.

 Barve is known for her insights and experience in the consumer and digital landscape in emerging markets across Asia. Passionate about F&B, outside of work Barve is best known for having participated in MasterChef Asia in 2015. 

“A consummate professional, Priya brings a wealth of experience in aiding business success and digital transformation, as well as key local insights that needed to win in many Indias. HUL is one of WPP’s key clients, one with whom we have had the pleasure of working for a number of years,” says WPP's chief client officer for India, Shubha George.  

“We are delighted to see Priya joining the team to lead such an important client relationship and look forward to driving further business growth and innovation together with Unilever,” George adds.  
 

FCB Ulka names Hemant Shringy as the new CCO

FCB Ulka has appointed Hemant Shringy as its new chief creative officer.

As chief creative officer, Shringy will be partnering closely with FCB Ulka CEO Kulvinder Ahluwalia to lead the FCB Ulka offices across the country. He will also be a key member of FCB Group India’s creative leadership, collaborating with leaders across agencies to continue to elevate the work across the network.

With more than two decades of experience, Shringy's influence inspires brands such as P&G's Ariel, Whisper, Gillette, Visa, WhatsApp and eBay to embrace distinctiveness, guiding them towards the pursuit of creative excellence, stated the agency.

On the appointment, Dheeraj Sinha, FCB group CEO of India and South Asia shares, "Our focus on building a new-age agency demands fresh perspectives. At FCB, our goal is to unite top-tier creative talent and demonstrate that creativity serves as an economic multiplier. Hemant’s track record of delivering outstanding creative solutions, resulting in brand recognition and business expansion, positions him ideally as the creative helm for FCB Ulka."

"I'm so excited to join Dheeraj, Nitin, and Kulvinder, along with the entire team at FCB. I can't wait to create a great partnership with our clients that leads to creatively effective work. There is such tremendous work happening around the world, and I think when the right people come together, magic happens. I've seen it. And I have a great feeling about this,” adds Shringy.

Havas India elevates Nikhil Guha as executive creative director

Havas India has elevated Nikhil Guha to the designation of executive creative director. Previously, he held the position of a group creative director.

As the ECD, Guha's skills range from managing creative teams, advertising, copywriting, brand strategy, creative direction, creative strategy, creative writing, integrated marketing, leadership, management and social media integration.

He started his career at Grey Group as a copywriter and went on to work across Tree Design, Havas Worldwide, Contract India, Publicis, and McCann Worldgroup.

As the creative director at McCann, Guha worked on Nescafe, Zomato, Nestle Nangrow, Wild Stone, Invest India.

Uber elevates Pradeep Parameswaran as the global head - Uber

Pradeep Parameswaran, who led Uber as regional general manager - Asia Pacific, has been promoted as global head of Uber for Business, Business Development and Fleets.

He said, "While Fleets and BD are long-standing passions of mine within Uber, especially in the APAC region, I’m excited to take the Uber for Business reins from Susan Anderson, another APAC Uber alum, who is moving to another exciting new role within Uber, leading our growth thrust in Grocery."

According to him, "Uber for Business has launched strong solutions to help businesses and their employees go anywhere and get anything. In just the last year or so, the team has built products to elevate the business travel experience and invested in supporting our client’s sustainability goals. We’ve forged deals with auto dealerships, logistics companies, airlines, healthcare organisations, and more. Today, Uber for Business works with 200,000 customers globally, including over 60% of the Fortune 500."

Parameswaran adds, "I am equally excited to build Uber's capabilities to be the best platform for Fleets on Delivery and Mobility, including Autonomous Vehicles. We are the largest demand platform globally for Rides and Eats. We are keen to leverage this platform to also make Uber a strong partner for small and large fleets who can scale fast, streamline operations and be profitable with Uber's support."

He started his career at Hindustan Unilever and went on to work across A.T.Kearney Dallas, McKinsey and Company and DEN Networks.

Paytm Money's CEO Varun Sridhar resigns

Varun Sridhar, who led Paytm Money, the wealth management platform of One 97 Communications Ltd, as chief executive officer, has moved on from his position. Rakesh Singh succeeds Sridhar as the CEO. Previously, Sridhar was the CEO at FinShell India.

Sridhar began his career at ConvergeLabs Software Technologies and went on to work across Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Value Partners, BNP Paribas and FinShell.

As the head of individuals at international retail banking, at BNP Paribas, his role was to lead key business development projects and have strategic oversight for ‘Individual’ clients (consumer banking) in - Ukrsibbank in Ukraine (~500 branches), BGZ-BNPP in Poland (~500 branches), TEB in Turkey (~600 branches).