Amin Lakhani elevated as CEO Mindshare, Parthasarathy Mandayam CSO GroupM

Amin and Maps will continue to drive growth and transformation agenda for clients and internal stakeholders, says GroupM

GroupM, the media investment group of WPP, today announced the appointment of Parthasarathy Mandayam (Maps) as the Chief Strategy Officer – GroupM South Asia and Amin Lakhani, who is elevated to the role of Chief Executive Officer – Mindshare South Asia, which was earlier led by Maps.  

Under the leadership of Maps and Amin, Mindshare said it saw a plethora of new business wins, with Oppo, Zomato, Ferrero, Meesho, Uniqlo, IAC, RedBus, Upstox, Polycab, Great Learning and Preethi, being just a few of those that became part of the family. Mindshare also retained key clients like HUL, The Walt Disney Company, Kellogg’s, Home Center, and Max Fashion in this period.

"With more than 25 years of experience in the advertising & communication industry, Maps has successfully managed multiple leadership roles in Mindshare – across Data, Analytics, Strategy, Client Leadership and Business Unit leadership. Starting his career with Mindshare in 2009 as head of the newly created “Business Planning” function, he went on to lead the North, East, and South offices. Later as the Chief Product Officer, he led specialist teams in driving strategic initiatives and creating bespoke tools that delivered client delight & recognition," the company said in a release.  

The role of GroupM Chief Strategy Officer will be to channel data, technology, consumer understanding to chart the growth and transformation agenda. Map’s appointment into the new role is part of the strategy that envisions doubling the focus with a significant shift on new-age technologies, products and offerings that require a transformation of both GroupM and client businesses. He will report to Prasanth Kumar, CEO GroupM South Asia.

Parthasarathy Mandayam, Chief Strategy Officer South Asia GroupM said: “I am extremely grateful to have such an amazing journey at GroupM. I think learning and change have always been a part of my career here. Furthermore, as our offerings become more specialized, we need to ensure synergy and seamless flow of expertise between the various players both internal, WPP and external to get the full benefits of both scale and specialization. As I steer through this journey I will continue to push forward with the growth and transformation agenda to bring in significant synergies between new-age data, technology, consulting, products and offerings for our clients and internal stakeholders.”

Amin Lakhani Chief Executive Officer South Asia Mindshare said: “We want to build on this existing momentum and drive Mindshare ‘Good Growth’ for our clients. New age data, technology, creativity, research, consulting, and products will play a major role in this journey. Our industry has always witnessed change. We’ve been at the centre of it and currently, the world is also witnessing this. Hence as marketers, we need to take charge and lead this journey for our clients and brands. I am excited for this next phase of my journey, and I would like to thank the team for believing in me.”