jury2023 -

Amita Naidu is a public relations professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate and consumer PR in the media and entertainment sector. She presently heads PR at Jio Studios, the content arm of Reliance Industries after major stints with Perfect Relations/Buzz and film studio Eros International. Having spearheaded communication strategies for over 100 Hindi & regional films and web shows, she has had a front-row view of the world of Indian entertainment and has witnessed the dynamic shifts and trends therein – from movies and music to television and OTT. Content is the bedrock of their business, and she plays a keen role in building a strong narrative and effectively communicating disruptive and compelling stories.

Amrit Raj is a seasoned professional with expertise in brand management and communication. Currently, he holds the position of Director of Brand & Communication at ZETWERK, where he plays a pivotal role in driving the global brand ambitions of the company. Prior to his current role, he held senior communications and corporate affairs positions at ByteDance and Nissan India. He is also the former National Corporate Editor of Mint, the youngest journalist to hold that role at any large media house in India. Amrit is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi, where he honed his skills in communication and media. He further enhanced his business acumen by pursuing his executive education at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. Amrit’s expertise in the field of branding and marketing has garnered recognition and accolades. His book titled “Indian Icon – A Cult Called Royal Enfield” earned him the prestigious Gaja Capital Business Book Prize in 2021, highlighting his profound understanding of the business landscape. The book is being adapted into a movie by a leading production house for a theatrical and OTT release.

Ashish Babu is Chief Marketing Officer at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He leads brand, communications, sponsorship and performance marketing for TCS for the UK & Europe region. As CMO, his focus is to enhance TCS’ reputation as a growth and transformation partner to brands across the continents. He has worked at TCS for over 20 years in various marketing and communications roles and has developed campaigns that have won more than 44 awards globally. He was recognised by Provoke media as Innovator 25 EMEA 2020 which recognises the most creative Marketing & Communications leaders, who are driving change in an era of disruption.

Ashish is an ardent supporter of B2B marketing and its ability to help growth and transform organisations. He is regularly called upon to share his thoughts in research and virtual events from companies including Frost & Sullivan, EACD, Brand Finance, Forrester, and B2B Marketing. Prior to joining TCS, Ashish headed communications for Tata Sky and held leadership roles with global consultancies Weber Shandwick, Burson-Marsteller and MSL. Ashish enjoys playing Padel tennis, Cricket and exploring the Dutch countryside on his gravel bike.

Bhavya Suri is an accomplished Corporate Communications expert with a track record of over 16 years in successfully leading teams to develop and execute communication strategies for global organisations across a diverse range of sectors, including Telecom, IT, Education, Auto, Aviation, Real Estate, Retail, Insurance, e-commerce, FMCG, Healthcare, Hospitality, Trade bodies, and others. He is a Crisis Communication Specialist, known for his successful handling of Corporate Crises, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Change Communications. Bhavya is at the helm of the PR & Corporate Affairs division for Pearson India, the Middle East and Africa. Before joining Pearson, he was heading corporate communications for a telecommunications company and has extensive experience of working with Public Relations firms.

Geetaj Channana has been working in the media and communications industry for more than two decades with experience in all forms of media including – online, print, multimedia and electronic. Post journalism, he has been consulting and leading communication mandates for a variety of technology focused companies like vivo, Netflix, Airbnb, Xiaomi, Samsung, Blackberry, GoDaddy, Sapient and Facebook.

In his current role, he leads Public Relations and CSR for vivo in India. He is a graduate in computers and has done his PG in business management from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Kinshuk Gupta is a communication professional with over two decades of experience in Public Relations & Corporate Communications. Inclined towards writing and research, Kinshuk was instrumental in starting the research division at Vaishnavi Corporate Communications. The passion for creative ideas and innovative means to execute them led Kinshuk to pursue a career in Public Relations / Corporate Communications. With a formal qualification in Business Management, Kinshuk had an opportunity to work in various industry verticals including FMCH, telecom & IT, healthcare, sports, renewable energy, manufacturing, aviation, etc. as a client consulting leader. He has led many successful campaigns for iconic brands, worked with senior leadership teams, spearheaded large teams, drove earned, owned and paid media initiatives, partnered with industry bodies and worked in cross functional and cross geography teams. Currently, Kinshuk heads the Corporate Communications for Bharti Airtel.

Kshitiz Singhal is a highly accomplished professional recognized for his expertise in corporate communications and digital strategy. As the Head of Corporate Communications (India) and Digital (Global) at Arise Group, he is committed to driving growth and innovation in the field of communications and marketing. Kshitiz has a proven track record of delivering impactful campaigns, managing brand reputation, and spearheading successful digital transformation initiatives. Previously, he held the position of Head of Digital Marketing, Social Media & CRM at GMR Group. With exceptional skills in cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder relationship management, Kshitiz consistently achieves outstanding results. His notable projects include Air Suvidha, Digiyatra, revenue generation, and the establishment of a 24×7 Command Center.

Kunal is a communication professional with over 17 years of cross-geographical experience in corporate communications, brand management, marketing and international business development, in diverse sectors of banking & finance, media, retail and FMCG.

He is currently handling corporate communications at India Exim Bank and has been instrumental in enhancing the visibility and digital transformation of the brand, through advertising, media management, events, and strategic alliances. Kunal has also served at the Bank’s Singapore representative office, where he was managing the Bank’s institutional linkages in the Asia-pacific region. He was a part of the team that conducted a feasibility study for setting up a facilitation framework for increasing India’s trade and investment opportunities in the CLMV countries, as part of an assignment from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

Kunal holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance & Investment Analysis, followed by a distinction in his post-graduation in Business Journalism & Corporate Communication, both from the University of Delhi.

Madhavi has more than two decades of work experience spanning image and reputation management, marketing, communication, branding, events and CSR across India and South and Southeast Asia in Fortune 100 and Indian MNCs and in non-profit organisations. Named among the most influential PR professionals by the PRWeek Global Power Book 2015 and 2016 and similar listings in India, Madhavi’s work and communication campaigns have been recognised at the Sabre Asia Pacific, Fulcrum, ET Kaleidoscope and PRCAI awards.

In a communications career spanning 23+ years, Nivedeeta has worked in the areas of Corporate Communications, Advertising, Employer Branding, Internal Communications and Stakeholder engagement in the South Asia region. In her previous assignment, she has worked with McCann Erickson India. Nivedeeta is part of the IKEA India management team and leads IKEA India’s total communications agenda including Public Relations, Public Affairs and Coworker Communication and represents the retail entity as a spokesperson and as an external representative for Ingka entities in India from a ONE IKEA approach.

Nivedeeta has been with IKEA for close to 20 years.

Omgita is the Director of Public Relations at Whatfix. She drives Whatfix’s PR portfolio to establish category leadership through communication strategy and media relations. With 15+ years of experience, she has set up functions like reputation management, public and media relations, and internal communications from scratch, navigating complex challenges and delivering exceptional results. Omgita has led various communication portfolios with renowned startups and Fortune 500 organisations such as InMobi, Publicis Sapient, Accenture, Concentrix, and Schneider Electric. Omgita’s passion lies in finding the perfect synergy between companies and their stakeholders, crafting impactful storytelling, and creating brand ambassadors.

Pramuch is the VP & Head, Group Communications of the Mahindra Group. He joined the Mahindra Group in 2017 and has held various leadership positions including leading communications for listed sectors including Mahindra Lifespaces and Mahindra Holidays. He was also responsible for the IPO communications of Mahindra Logistics. Later he led strategic communications for the Auto and Farm sectors, working closely with the leadership on defining the narratives for the flagship sector globally. He was also responsible for Mahindra Racing, one of the founding members of Formula E.

Pramuch has 25 years of experience in brand and communications function and has worked with top global companies including IBM, Cisco Systems and Samsung Electronics. Pramuch holds a Master of Business Administration (Marketing) from Birla Institute of Management Technology and completed his Global Program for Management Development (GPMD) from Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Priya Zutshi has 18 years experience working as a Communications professional in the Corporate as well as Not-for-Profit sector. Currently, she heads Blue Dart’s PR, Corporate Communications and Sustainability Function.
Priya started her professional journey as a Broadcast Journalist with India Today Group, moving on to do her Masters in Social Work from TISS, Mumbai. Post this, she worked with Child Rights and You, handling their Media Advocacy work. Priya has worked with Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra Group and Green Cell Mobility, straddling the twin domains of Communications and Sustainability in these well-known corporates.

Rimmi Harindran is a passionate communicator with diversified experience of two decades across Corporate Reputation Management, Brand Communications, Issues Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Advocacy and Public Relations.

In her current role with the Kellogg Company, she leads Corporate Affairs for the Asia Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region. She has within her purview the mandate of Communications, ESG, Government and Industry Relations for AMEA. She is part of the Regional Leadership Team and the Global Corporate Affairs Leadership Team.

Rimmi is committed to developing inclusive teams and advancing an ED&I culture as well as driving social impact contributing to the vision and purpose of the Kellogg Company to create a good and just world where people are not just fed but fulfilled’.

Prior to joining Kellogg, Rimmi spent almost 12 years at Merck, in four different roles across geographies in Asia and Europe.

Rohit Dubey is a senior management executive with over 27 years of experience. He has
worked at the intersection of corporate communication, public policy, advocacy, and
regulation.

Rohit currently leads the Corporate Communication for Reliance Jio. He has worked across
sectors like Telecom, Retail, IT & ITes, Oil & Gas, Steel & Mines. He has handled
communications for M&A, New launches, Crisis, etc. During his consulting career, he has
worked with clients like Reliance Industries, Tata Group companies, Virgin Mobile India,
Telecom Regulatory Authority Oman, Vedanta Group, Dhamra Ports, etc.
Rohit is an engineering graduate and has completed the Senior Management Program from
IIM, Kozhikode, Leadership Advancement Program from IIM, Ahmedabad, Independent
Directors Certifications Program from IIM, Bangalore, and an Advance Management
program in Public Policy (AMPPP) from ISB.

Rohit, as adjunct faculty and co-teaches Advanced Corporate Communications to PGP &
EPGP students of IIM, Kozhikode. Rohit is a member of New Delhi headquartered policy
think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and was a member of various committees of
the Telecom advocacy body COAI.

Rohit also works closely with NGOs and is a Life Member & Former Joint Secretary of The
Cancer Foundation, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS, New
Delhi. He is a trustee of a School for Special Children in Noida.

Sanjeev Handa is an Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad alumnus and an Economics Graduate from Delhi University. He is a marketing and communications expert with nearly three decades of multi-faceted experience in Business Strategy, Brand Management, Advertising, PR & Corporate Communications, CRM and Sales in leading organisations across industries. With 16 years at MSIL, he has formerly headed the Marketing vertical where he developed end-to-end marketing strategies for Maruti Suzuki’s product portfolio and also led research, media, digital, CRM and loyalty initiatives. He is a strong digital and data advocate. He has turned around and created some iconic brands for his company. Sanjeev has a passion for driving cars and riding bikes and loves reading, travelling, and meeting people.

Saraswathi Mohan holds 15 plus years of experience in enterprise, consumer, FinTech, AgriTech and start-up technology. Saraswathi is a seasoned expert in corporate and business communications. Her expertise lies in developing integrated campaigns combining earned, owned, digital and paid media. She has worked with IBM India/South Asia, FreeCharge and leading PR consultancies like Weber Shandwick, The PRactice and Vox Public Relations (Archetype) in India.

She has extensive experience in stakeholder relations, C-suite communications, leadership training and team management.

Saritha is an empathetic, personality-led solutions seeker in the communications field. She has around two decades of experience encompassing Corporate Reputation Management, Issues Management, Brand Communications, Internal Communications, Stakeholder Engagement, Public Policy Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility.

At Merck, Saritha’s passion is to find creative ways of content usage to spark connect and impact with the audience across stakeholders. She is committed to driving a diverse and inclusive team beyond boundaries as part of her India and APAC projects. Prior to Merck, she drove critical communications and CSR for Pfizer in India.

Apart from being a creative artist, Saritha follows multiple creative pursuits that includes junk journal creation, watercolor painting, taking road trips across India, pottery, and working with small children on the art of being happy.

Shaily Vaswani is the Senior Vice President – Group Communication & Brand at Aditya Birla Group. With nearly three decades of experience in corporate reputation management and marketing communication, Shaily is an experienced corporate communication professional with a demonstrated history of successful endeavours in diverse multinational industries across geographies. In her career, she has led teams and been a strategic advisor on Internal Communication, Social Media Communication, Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Crisis Communication, and Media Relations. Prior to joining Aditya Birla Group, she has led strategic communication in leading global organisations such as VFS Global, J.P. Morgan, Essar Group, Tata Communications, Cummins India, Mahindra Consulting (aka Bristlecone), among others. She is an Economics Graduate with a Post-Graduation in Management (Marketing). Shaily is a digital evangelist and has been a speaker at leading forums, advocating the power of storytelling and reputation management.

Shirley D’silva is the Head of Lenovo’s India communications team. Driving the strategic function for the global technology powerhouse in one of its most important markets, Shirley draws from her vast 19 years of professional experience straddling sectors as diverse as hospitality, infrastructure, finance, and consumer goods. At Lenovo, she is responsible for the company’s internal and external communication, corporate initiatives, executive communication and stakeholder outreach efforts.

Besides her strengths in pure-play communication involving strategic media planning, reputation management and crisis communication, Shirley is also an adept corporate storyteller and brand evangelist. With the right mix of industry insights and experience, she excels in engaging customers and corporate stakeholders and facilitating deep and meaningful brand conversations in today’s hyper-connected digital economy.

Shirley’s professional journey includes stints at Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Capital, Le Royal Meridien and Parle Agro.

Siddhartha P Saikia heads Corporate Relations for the ACME Group and works closely with the management team. He is a communication and branding professional equipped with over 16-years of experience in business journalism and public relations. He formulates the internal and external communication strategy of the ACME Group by integrating domestic and global business goals. Prior to ACME Group, Siddhartha worked for Maruti Suzuki India. He has an experience of over a decade in mainstream business journalism with some of India’s finest newspapers including the Hindustan Times, the Hindu Business Line, and the Financial Express.

Smita Basu Roy is the Head of Corporate Communications and PR at Godrej & Boyce and is responsible for managing the Company’s reputation, leadership communications and promoting effective communication among employees within the organisation. Her experience spans across diverse industries like renewable energy, manufacturing, FMCG, consumer durables, construction and retail with expertise in media relations, crisis communications, partnerships, digital PR and owned media platforms.

Prior to joining G&B in 2021, she was the Head of Corporate Communications at Voltas Limited.
Committed to designing communications strategies that meet business objectives and stakeholder expectations, Smita has been recognised by industry forums for creating industry benchmarks in brand and category building.

Smita completed her post-graduation from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, and is an avid badminton enthusiast.

Sourav Mishra is a financial journalist turned communications professional with close to two decades of experience. Sourav is currently the Head of Corporate Communications at financial services conglomerate IIFL Group. Sourav was earlier a journalist with Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Economic Times and Down To Earth. He co-founded English Newsweekly ‘India First’. Sourav wrote a book on Indian Cotton along with Dr Sunita Narain, used by government to increase procurement prices to reduce farmer suicides. He is also an artist and teaches communication to students at Indian Institute of Mass Communications, Mumbai University and has conducted Master Classes for ET.
Sourav has been recognised on various platforms including Economic Times and Reputation Today for his work in the field of communications.

SS Rao is the Chief General Manager (PR) and Head of the PR in Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC), a Maharatna Company under the Ministry of Power.
A postgraduate with a Masters in Communication (in PR & Journalism) and an MBA, he joined PFC in 1993 and became the Head of PR in 2018. Prior to joining PFC, he was with “Eenadu” (the largest circulated daily in Andhra Pradesh) and the Indian Express Group of Newspapers.

He built the PR Department in PFC from scratch after he joined this organisation in 1993. During his association of 30 years with this department, he has helped the Company gain immense visibility in the print, electronic and digital media along with planning, strategizing and successfully executing a multitude of PR activities such as conducting exhibitions, media campaigns, media interactions, and liaison with various agencies, stakeholders and Ministries. This has helped PFC bag several Awards as well from PRCI. He played a key role in putting together many best PR practices in PFC, and today PFC is one of the first PSUs to have its own PR policy.

His core competencies include understanding, generating and shaping public perception through cognitive and effective PR practices. SS Rao is also the Chairman of the Public Relations Society, Delhi (PRSD).

Tehseen Zaidi is a Corporate Communications and Public Relations Specialist.

Endowed with knack for news, versatility to communicate vivaciously and high-end skills to manage public and media relations, Tehseen Zaidi carries a professional experience of nearly 17 years gained from multiple organisations of repute. She worked for over a decade at NDTV 24×7, one of India’s leading news channel where she handled multiple portfolios from research to channel PR, crisis communications, channel relationship, campaign designing and lining up of celebrities, politicians. Starting her career as a Media and Communications Coordinator for Delhi Book Fair – 2005, Zaidi has not looked back since then, crossing one after another milestones!

At present, she is leading Communications at Syngenta India Pvt Ltd, a Swiss based MNC. Earlier she was heading Communications and Advocacy division of Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation where she designed some award-winning campaigns for the socio-economic development of those affected by leprosy and their families.

Tehseen’ s professional versatility includes working at the cutting edge of journalism, PR and advocacy communications while handling an array of industries such as agriculture, FMCG, aviation, telecom and automobiles.

The expertise of Tehseen is strongly built on the pillars of her deep analytical capability, policy analysis, advocacy evaluation, strategic communication and media network. Her numerous years of continuous engagement with corporate, government and policymakers while working at NDTV have enabled her to build a vast network of influencers at all levels of the economy. She has also demonstrated capabilities in organising and executing advocacy-based conferences, event-centric brand and marketing engagements, press conferences, and media familiarisation trips.

Vasundhara is the Head of PR & Communications at Spotify India. She has been with the audio streaming platform for over 4.5 years where, besides strategising on local and global communication initiatives and campaigns, she also works with cross functional teams on key business-related projects. With nearly 15 years of experience, Vasundhara is focused on the big picture, experimenting with ideas, tapping into non-traditional editorial opportunities, and qualitative impact of outreach. She was previously at Intel Corp. as the India Head of Communications and the erstwhile Genesis Burson-Marsteller where she spent 7.5 years.

Yatin Padia is a corporate communication professional with more than 15 years of experience in public relations, brand communication and investor relations. He currently holds the position of Head of Corporate Communication at Arvind Limited.

Prior to joining Arvind Limited, Yatin Padia worked as the Official Spokesperson and Head of Corporate Communication at BSE, one of India’s leading stock exchanges. In his previous role, he was responsible for managing the exchange’s communication with various stakeholders, including investors, media, and regulatory bodies.

Yatin Padia is a graduate of the University of Mumbai, where he specialised in business management. He also holds a postgraduate degree in international marketing from the University of Brussels. His educational background has provided him with a solid foundation in business and marketing, which he has used to build his career in corporate communication.