Agency News
Why advertising agencies can no longer afford single-sector dependence
Hero MotoCorp appoints Harshavardhan Chitale as Chief Executive Officer
Harshavardhan Chitale most recently served as Global CEO of Signify’s €4 billion Professional Business, leading 12,000 employees across 70 countries and spearheading manufacturing, supply chain, product development, and digital initiatives.
Harshvardhan Chitale brings with him more than three decades of global leadership across both B2B and B2C sectors, with deep expertise in industrial automation, lighting, information technology services, and digital transformation.
Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, said on Monday that its board has appointed Harshavardhan Chitale as chief executive officer, effective Jan. 5, 2026.
With the appointment, Vikram Kasbekar, who has been serving as acting C.E.O., will step down from that role. He will remain on the company’s board as executive director and chief technology officer.
Chitale, 55, is a veteran executive with more than three decades of experience in industrial automation, lighting, information technology services and digital transformation. He has held senior roles in both business-to-business and consumer-facing sectors, and has been credited with steering multinational corporations through growth and restructuring in India, the United States and Europe.
He most recently served as global chief executive of Signify’s €4 billion Professional Business, where he led a workforce of 12,000 employees across 70 countries. In that role, he oversaw manufacturing, supply chain, product development and digital initiatives. Earlier, as vice chairman and managing director of Philips Lighting India, he was responsible for executing its spin-off into a publicly listed entity and strengthening its market leadership.
Chitale has also held senior leadership positions at HCL Infosystems and Honeywell Automation India, where he was credited with delivering shareholder value and driving transformative growth.
A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, he is also an active angel investor with interests in electric vehicles, clean energy, health technology and agricultural technology.
Read More: Two key senior executives quit Hero MotoCorp
The Grand Irony: Agencies That Built Brands, Forgot to Build For Themselves
Despite being the original architects of global brands, advertising holding companies are collapsing in market value because they still sell human hours while the world now rewards scalable, self-learning systems.