O&M revives CEO position; Kunal Jeswani takes over the post

A few senior Ogilvy hands have been promoted as part of the new management structure effective March 1

One of the country's premier ad agencies Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) has revived the chief executive officer's position in a top-deck reshuffle effective March 1.

Kunal Jeswani, currently chief digital officer, will take over as CEO of the agency. In a statement, O&M said that Jeswani would retain his current responsibility as digital head besides overseeing operations of the entire agency as its CEO. 

He will report directly to Piyush Pandey, O&M's executive chairman & creative director, South Asia as well as S N Rane, executive co-chairman & group chief operating officer, South Asia.

The CEO's position at Ogilvy, incidentally, was last held by Pratap Bose prior to his departure in 2008 to Mudra (now DDB Mudra). Bose had succeeded incumbent John Goodman in 2006, who had relocated to O&M, Japan.

Besides Jeswani, Hufrish Birdy, currently executive finance director at the agency, will take over as its CFO. The agency's president, advertising, Hephzibah Pathak, has been elevated to the position of global clients' director, a new role, while Kawal Shoor, head of planning at the agency's Mumbai office, will be the new national planning director.

Parallely, Ogilvy is also expanding its board of directors by inducting Jeswani and Birdy besides Rajiv Rao, O&M's national creative director and Navin Talreja, president, Mumbai & Kolkata Geography Head at the agency. All these inductees will be designated as executive directors and will come on board on completion of legal formalities, O&M said.