Global beverage giant Pepsico has elevated Tarun Bhagat to Chief Marketing Officer, India and South Asia Beverages. Bhagat took to LinkedIn to share the news of his promotion: "I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Chief Marketing Officer, India & South Asia Beverages at PepsiCo!"  

Previously, he was the Senior Director:Marketing for Mountain Dew, 7UP, Mirinda – International Beverages. 

He joined the company in 2018 as Brand Director for Pepsi. Prior to that, Bhagat was Group Product Manager-Kingfisher Beer.

Caroline Pay has been appointed as Dentsu Creative’s CCO.

She was earlier CCO at Headspace in California till July 2022. Prior to that, Pay was at Grey and has also worked at BBH and Mother.

She replaces Simon Lloyd who has left for VMLY&R.

Pay will join Dentsu in June.

Subscription based Satellite television company Tata Play has elevated Abhishek Pathak to SVP & Head (Content), handling strategy, business development and partnerships.

Pathak announced the move on LinkedIn: "Building Tata Play for the present and the future as a new member of the Greater Leadership Team. Elevated to SVP & Head - Content."

He was previously with Tata Group as Senior Manager (Corporate Brand). Pathak also served as Manager (Special Projects) at Taj Group of Hotels. He was also with Abbott as its Brand Manager.

Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd. announced the appointment of Geetanjali Chugh Kothari as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). In her role as the CMO, Geetanjali will be responsible for leading the organization's marketing, communications, digital, and customer experience initiatives.

Geetanjali comes with over 17 years of experience in the marketing domain in BFSI, media, and retail. Prior to joining Future Generali, Geetanjali held the position of Head of Marketing and Corporate Communication at Bharti AXA Life Insurance. Her prior experience includes working for Future Group, HT Media, and Mudra Max.

Mr. Bruce de Broize, Managing Director & CEO of Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd., expressed, “Geetanjali's extensive work experience in the BFSI and insurance sectors, coupled with her expertise in driving strategic initiatives centred around innovation, sustainability, customer experience, and business enablement, make her an exceptional addition to our dynamic leadership team as our new CMO. I am confident Geetanjali will be a great asset to the Company and will strategically lead the marketing team and enable the organisation to deliver on our customer lifetime partner objectives.”

Geetanjali Chugh Kothari, CMO - Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd., said, “I am thrilled to be joining Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Generali Group’s rich legacy of 190 years across the globe and its commendable contributions to insurance sector inspire me. I am grateful for this opportunity and eager to collaborating with the leadership team. Drawing from my past experiences, my goal is to position Marketing and Communication as essential contributors to the brand's preference and organisation goals, and our commitment to being a lifetime partner to our customers. Through thoughtful and innovative practices, we will strive to create meaningful connections and lifetime value for our customers.”

In her new role as the CMO, Geetanjali will report to Bruce de Broize, Managing Director & CEO, of Future Generali India Life Insurance, and will be based in the head office in Mumbai.

5paisa Capital Limited (5paisa.com) has appointed former Google, Uber and Amazon senior executive Mr. Narayan Gangadhar as Chief Executive Officer.

Gangadhar has over two decades of experience, mostly with global tech giants, based out of San Francisco Bay Area in the US.

He was the Head of Engineering at Uber managing over 1,000 innovators, building core engineering platforms, core APIs and cloud solutions to help Uber’s operations in over 500 cities across the world.

Earlier, Gangadhar was a Senior Director at Google helming the cloud engineering and infrastructure domains, where he was responsible for all external facing cluster computing products as well as in charge of backend infrastructure.

He has also worked with Amazon as Director of Engineering, where he built Amazon Relational Database Service. He started his career with Microsoft and worked in various engineering roles. Most recently, Gangadhar was CEO of Angel One.

Commenting on the appointment, R Venkataraman said, “Mr. Gangadhar’s engineering skills and Silicon Valley experience with tech giants will complement the digital transformation priorities at 5paisa.com. We look forward to a great period of growth and innovation at 5paisa.com under Mr. Gangadhar’s leadership. Technology, both on infrastructure trading platform and user interface experience side will play a critical role in brokerage industry going forward.”

On his appointment, Gangadhar said, “5paisa.com was the original disruptor in Indian broking industry and democratized equity investing for millions of Indians by offering a great platform at affordable fees. I am happy to be a part of the legacy and excited about the accelerated digital transformation journey ahead.”

Continuing its vision of building converged 'One Network18', Network18 has announced appointments and enhanced duties in its top leadership. The strategic move aims to establish an integrated broadcast and digital ecosystem, driving growth and innovation across all brands within the network.

As part of this development, Network18 has enhanced roles of key executives to within the organization. Shivakumar has been appointed as the President of News18 Studios. He will be responsible for leading the converged business mode. His role will encompass all business clusters and brands, with a focus on creating a truly pan-India appeal.

Karan Abhishek Singh, CEO of the Hindi News Cluster, will also have an expanded role, taking charge of revenue, ratings, and reputation for the cluster. With a focus on brand growth across channels and platforms, Karan will drive cross-functional collaboration between editorial, product, technology, and other departments.

Smriti Mehra, CEO of the English News Cluster, is a distinguished brand leader for CNBC-TV18, CNN-News18, CNBC-TV18.com, and News18 digital (English). In her expanded role, she will oversee revenue, ratings (audience growth), and the reputation of the portfolio. Smriti will drive brand growth across channels and platforms through cross-functional coordination, bridging editorial, product, technology, and other functions.

Mitul Sangani, CEO of the Regional News Cluster, a proven leader in Network18's digital business, will now be responsible for revenue, ratings, and reputation for all regional television news channels and digital properties. Apart from this, he will also drive Local18, Network18’s fast-growing hyper-local brand.

Abhinay Chauhan, Executive Vice President of Government Sales, will continue to strengthen Network18's relationships with state governments and PSU bodies, while identifying new business opportunities in this vertical.

Ruchir Khanna, COO of Firstpost, has been appointed to develop the product and website with a unique brand proposition, setting it apart from other players in the genre.

Preeti Sahni, COO of Forbes India (Print + Digital), will continue to lead of international sales for the network while extending her responsibilities to lead the Forbes brand across multiple platforms.

Pranav Bakshi has joined Network18 as Head of Partnerships, focusing on creating new opportunities for audience growth and monetization across platforms. He will also work on revenue maximization by leveraging the network's extensive video content repository.

This leadership team will report to Avinash Kaul and Puneet Singhvi, the co-owners of 'One Network18.' Together, they will drive Network18's vision to become a truly integrated media ecosystem, ensuring continued growth, innovation, and audience engagement.

Joydeep Mukherjee has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer at Adda52.com.

He was earlier CMO at myclassroom for nearly 2 years.

Mukherjee was with Airtel for over 9 years.

His expertise lies in brand development and brand positioning.