Happy birthday Nandini Dias: A career of leadership and transformation

Dias has worked on the launch of more than 400 brands and managed media investments for more than 250 businesses over the course of her career

by e4m Staff
Published: Nov 14, 2026 9:56 AM | 2 min read

Nandini Dias, celebrating her birthday, is recognized for introducing flexible core hours at Lodestar UM to promote work-life balance, alongside her initiative WorkToLiveToWork.
With 27 years at IPG Mediabrands, she rose to chief executive of Lodestar UM, managing media investments for over 250 businesses and launching more than 400 brands, including major clients like Samsung and Johnson & Johnson.
Under her leadership, Lodestar UM developed research-based tools for audience targeting and budget allocation, expanding the agency's capabilities and winning over 100 awards, including accolades at Cannes Lions and Spikes Asia.
Since leaving Lodestar UM, Dias has engaged in independent advisory roles and corporate governance, serving as an independent director at Bandhan AMC and contributing to the International Advertising Association.

As Nandini Dias celebrates her birthday, one decision from her years at Lodestar UM says something about the kind of agency she wanted to run. In a business where client deadlines often dictate the working day, she introduced flexible core hours, giving employees more control over their schedules. She championed work-life balance through an initiative called WorkToLiveToWork.

Dias spent 27 years with the IPG Mediabrands network, rising to chief operating officer before taking over as chief executive of Lodestar UM, a role she held for nearly a decade. According to her MMA Global profile, she worked on the launch of more than 400 brands and managed media investments for more than 250 businesses over the course of her career. Samsung, Johnson & Johnson, Tata and Mahindra were among the advertisers she worked with.

At Lodestar UM, Dias helped develop research-based tools that planners could use to decide which audiences to prioritise, where to reach them and how to allocate a client’s budget. She also helped build specialist teams in content, brand experiences and celebrity management. That widened the agency’s role in a campaign. A client could turn to Lodestar UM for a media plan and draw on the same agency for a content partnership or an on-ground activation.

The agency won more than 100 awards during her time at the helm, with recognition at Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, Goafest and the Emvies. Dias received CEO of the Year honours on several occasions and was named Gamechanger of the Year. She was also the only woman on an Economic Times list of the 10 most influential leaders in Indian advertising and media.

Since leaving Lodestar UM, Dias has taken on independent advisory work across media, advertising and entertainment. She has also served as a vice president and board member of the India chapter of the International Advertising Association.

Her career has taken her into corporate governance as well. As an independent director at Bandhan AMC, Dias has chaired the corporate social responsibility committee and served on the audit and risk management committees. After years of overseeing how advertisers invested their media budgets, her board responsibilities have brought a different set of investment, oversight and governance decisions into her working life.