CXO Moves: Exec movements across Tata Sons, Citroen, BMW India, WPP, Madison World and more

Keep up with all the key people movements in the brand marketing ecosystem in Storyboard18’s CXO Moves. Here’s a round-up of the executives who've moved jobs, got bigger roles, switched industries and more.

N Chandrasekaran and S Padmanabhan

Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, stepped down as the chairman and director of Tata Chemicals. The board of directors have appointed S Padmanabhan, director of the company, to succeed Chandrasekaran.

Chandrasekaran had joined the Board of Tata Sons in 2016 and was appointed as the chairman in 2017.

Before being appointed as the chairman, he was the chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, and had also served as its chief executive officer for eight years.

Padmanabhan's career in the Tata group of companies began with Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) in 1982 and spans over 40 years. During his 26-year stint in TCS, he held roles such as executive director of human resources, Head of Application Development and Maintenance, Head of Airlines Practice, Country Manager, TCS Switzerland and Executive Director.

Manoj Dobhal

Present: Chairman, Dish TV India

Manoj Dobhal, who leads Dish TV as its chief executive officer and executive director, has been appointed to the board as the chairman. He is experienced in managing various aspects of business including sales and distribution, customer marketing, experience, field service and business process automation.

Partho Sinha

Previous: President and chief brand officer, Bennett Coleman and Co

Present: Senior business advisor, MNC

Partho Sinha has joined a multinational company, whose identity is yet to be revealed, as a senior business advisor. He has worked across Citibank NA, Ogilvy & Mather, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Publicis, BBH, and McCann Worldgroup.

Vishal Chinchankar

Previous: CEO, Madison Digital & Alpha

Vishal Chinchankar has stepped down from his position, confirmed the sources to Storyboard18. Chinchankar's career began at The Indian Express as a senior executive.

He went on to hold managerial roles at Investment Research & Information Services and Mediaturf Worldwide. Then, he worked at Mindshare Interaction, Reliance Digital TV, Prodigy, MEC India.

Andreas Modlmayer

Present: MD and CEO, BMW India

BMW India has named Andreas Modlmayer as managing director and chief executive officer. He has worked at BMW Financial Services too.

BK Goenka and Sandeep Garg

Welspun Enterprises Ltd (WEL) has reappointed Balkrishan Goenka as executive chairman and Sandeep Garg as managing director for another term of one year. The decision was approved by the company’s board and disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday.

Goenka’s reappointment as whole-time director will be effective from June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. Notably, he will continue in his role without being subject to retirement by rotation. Meanwhile, Garg’s reappointment as managing director will also span the same period, but he will remain liable to retire by rotation as per company policy.

Aabhinna Suresh Khare

Previous: Chief digital and marketing officer, Bajaj Capital

Aabhinna Suresh Khare has stepped down as the chief digital and marketing officer at Bajaj Capital. He has worked across Indiamart Intermesh, TravelTriangle.com, and BookMyForex.

Naveen Tahilyani

Previous: Chief executive officer, Tata Digital

Present: Regional CEO for India, Africa, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, Prudential Plc

Naveen Tahilyani will be joining Prudential Plc in a new role. He has worked across McKinsey & Company, AIA, Axis Bank, Tata AIA Life Insurance.

Prashant Thakker

Previous: Management Director, Citi

Present: Head - Corporate Banking for South and Southeast Asia, Citi

Prashant Thakker has been elevated to a new role. He will be responsible for steering the bank’s corporate banking operations across a diverse set of Asia South markets including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

He has also worked across ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Greg Lyons

Previous: Chief marketing officer, PepsiCo

Present: Global CMO, Subway

Subway has named Greg Lyons as the global CMO. He has worked across Marketing Corporation of America, Starbucks, and Tropicana Brand Group.

David Droga

Present: CEO, Accenture Song

David Droga has chosen to step down from Accenture Song at the end of the fiscal year and will take on a broader strategic role across all of Accenture as vice chair.

On September 1, 2025, Ndidi Oteh will succeed Droga. Nick Law will become the new creative strategy & experience lead and will also join Accenture’s GMC.

LS Digital

The company has named Anuraj Gupta as chief growth officer for India and MEA, Shantanu Bhattacharyya as chief client officer- media and Sudhindra CN as chief strategy officer.

Gupta will spearhead the company’s strategic growth initiatives, focusing on new client acquisition and revenue expansion across India and MEA. Bhattacharyya will lead LS Digital’s client success charter, driving seamless delivery of integrated solutions across media, creative, data, tech, and customer experience.

Sudhindra will drive transformative, data-driven strategies that foster innovation and measurable business impact for leading B2B, B2C, and D2C brands.

Venu Nuguri

Previous: Managing director & CEO - India & South Asia, and Member of Global Executive, Hitachi Energy

Present: Managing director, Hitachi India

Hitachi India has expanded the role and responsibilities of incumbent MD & CEO of Hitachi Energy, N Venu. He has worked across GEC Alstom India, ABB in India and CII Southern Region.

Madhav Mani

Previous: President, CHRO, Usha International

Present: CEO, Usha International

Usha International has elevated Madhav Mani to CEO. He has worked across The Indian Hotels Company, Reliance Industries and InterGlobe Technology Quotient.

Anjani Kumar

Previous: Chief technology officer and EVP, Tata AIG General Insurance Company

Present: Chief digital and information officer, Ather Energy

Ather Energy has appointed Anjani Kumar as the chief technology and information officer. He has worked across Cognizant Technology Solutions, IBM, Safexpress Pvt Ltd, Collabera, Nissan Motor Corporation and Strides.

Justin Graham

Previous: CEO, APAC, M&C Saathi Group

Justin Graham, who led M&C Saathi Group as the chief executive officer of the APAC region, will be stepping down from his position. Dani Bassil, who is the CEO of Clemenger BBDO Australia, will succeed Graham.

Graham has worked across Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Leo Burnett, BBDO, Droga5, The Communications Council, M&C Saatchi Australia.

Deepak Gullapalli

Previous: Founder & CEO, Head Digital Works

Present: Chairman, Head Digital Works

Deepak Gullapalli, who is the founder and chief executive officer of Head Digital Works, an online skill-gaming company, has been elevated to the role of chairman. As the chairman, Gullapalli will look into strategic counseling and guidance.

Marie-Claire Barker

Previous: Global chief people officer, GroupM

Present: Global chief people officer, WPP

WPP has named Marie-Claire Barker as the global chief people officer. She has worked across Britvic Soft Drinks, Virgin Media Business, Ogilvy, Wavemaker and Edelman.

Xavier Chardon

Previous: Chief executive officer, VW Group, France

Present: CEO, Citroen

Citroen has appointed Xavier Chardon in a new role. He has worked at VW Group in China too.

Madhavan Sekar

Previous: Senior vice president, head of marketing, SAJ Food Products

Present: Head of marketing, Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay has appointed Madhavan Sekar in a new role. He has worked across Tata Consultancy Services, Saint-Gobain, Madura Coats, Britannia Industries and Reliance Retail.

Manoj Awasthi

Previous: chief technology and product officer, JULO

Present: Chief technology officer, Cleartrip

Cleartrip has appointed Manoj Awasthi in a new role. He has worked across Hughes Software Systems, Adobe and Tokopedia.

Olive Sen

Previous: Head of product, NYX

Present: Chief business officer, OLX India

OLX India has appointed Olive Sen in a new role. He has worked across ITC Limited, Nissan Motor, ZS Associates, Decision Point, BetterPlace, Stealth Startup.

Reneta Kripalani

Previous: Vice president - marketing, Z47

Present: Global Head of Marketing Communications, Consumer and D2C, InMobi

InMobi has named Reneta Kripalani in a new role. She has worked across Encompass Events, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Unilever, Think Events, Network18 and Purpple.com.

Ankit Jain

Present: Senior vice president - operations, Instamart

Instamart has appointed Ankit Jain as Senior Vice President - Operations. In this role, Jain will lead Instamart’s end-to-end operations, including supply chain management, dark store operations, delivery experience and network expansion.

Amit Sharma

Previous: Managing director, Miraj Entertainment

Amit Sharma has stepped down from his position at Miraj Entertainment. He has worked at Cinemax India too.

Bhuvanesh Mendiratta

Previous: Chief operating officer, Miraj Entertainment

Present: Managing director, Miraj Entertainment

Miraj Entertainment has elevated Bhuvanesh Mendiratta to managing director. He has worked across Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Taj Hotels, Cinemax India and PVR Ltd.

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

Read More: CXO Moves: Exec movements across Meta, Titan Company, ONDC, Parag Milk Foods and more