Megha Tata Elected IAA India President A Week After AAAI Gets A Woman Chief

Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery Communications India, has been unanimously elected President of the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) at its AGM held today. Tata's election comes just a week after Anupriya Acharya, CEO of Publicis Groupe South Asia, was elected the new President of Advertising Agencies Association of India( AAAI).

Speaking on her new role as the President of IAA, Tata said, “It is an honour and a privilege to be leading the India Chapter of IAA. The legacy of past presidents, the great work they have done, will be continued as I endeavour to strengthen the India chapter and help build a strong ecosystem for the common good of the industry. The strong representation of women in marcom is a welcome change and am sure will lead to more meaningful work in the coming year.”

Tata is the second woman ever to hold the post. Pheroza Bilimoria was the first IAA president sometime in 90s.

Speaking at the occasion, Immediate Past President Punit Goenka said “It was an absolute pleasure for me to lead the entire team of IAA, India Chapter during my tenure as the President of this prestigious association. I attribute the success and milestones achieved over the last 2 years to each and every member of the team. The association is blessed with dedicated professionals who are focused towards bringing a positive change across the industry. I am very glad to note that the mantle is now handed over to Ms. Megha Tata. Her able leadership and experience will add immense value to the association and I wish her and the entire team all the very best. As a proud member of IAA, I will continue to contribute my best, in order to enable the association to achieve its set goals for the industry at large.”

Pradeep Dwivedi, CEO- Eros India of Eros STX Global Corporation, was elected Vice President and the other office-bearers include Jaideep Gandhi, Founder -Another Idea as Hon. Secretary, Abhishek Karnani, Director-The Free Press Journal as Hon. Treasurer. Punit Goenka, Managing Director & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd will continue to guide the new team as Immediate Past President. 

Reacting to his election, Dwivedi said, "Privileged to continue my proud association with IAA India Chapter as #VicePresident for the next term."

The Members of the Managing Committee elected include Anant Goenka (Executive Director The Indian Express (P) Ltd), Avinash Pandey (CEO ABP News Network Pvt. Ltd.), Janak Sarda (Managing Director, Deshdoot Media Group), Nandini Dias (Chief Executive Officer, Lodestar UM), Prasanth Kumar (CEO-South Asia GroupM- A WPP Company). The list of members co-opted and invited to the Managing Committee will be shortly announced.

Megha Tata currently leads multiple national as well as international industry forums. She is on the board of Indian Broadcasting Foundation as a co-opted Director. She is also a board-member of the National Media & Entertainment Committee of FICCI and member of CII National Committee on Media & Entertainment. Megha has been Jury member of many leading industry awards like International Emmys, Promax, Children’s Film Festival, Golden Mikes Awards, International Women in Sales Awards, Impact’s 30 under 30 and many more. Besides being involved in industry initiatives, she has been engaging and shaping young minds through guest lectures at leading educational institutes including IIT, IIM, ISB, UBS and more.

Tata has been bestowed with multiple industry accolades in her career. Recognized as the ‘top 50 influential women in media, marketing and advertising’, she was conferred ‘Women of the decade in media’ by the Women Economic Forum in 2018. Earlier, she received the Women Leadership Achievement award by the Women leadership Congress.