Commonwealth's Mumbai hub appoints three in leadership positions

Loveleen Raina, Steve Hugh and Sandip Mahapatra have been taken on board as regional business leader, regional creative director and regional planning director, respectively, at the Mumbai hub of the agency.

The Mumbai hub of Commonwealth has made some fresh appointments in its senior leadership team. The agency has taken on board Loveleen Raina, Steve Hugh and Sandip Mahapatra as the regional heads of business, creative and planning departments, respectively.

Commonwealth is the communication agency formed by the partnership of McCann and Goodby Silverstein and Partners to look after the General Motors account.

Prasoon Joshi, chairman and CEO of McCann Worldgroup India and board member of Commonwealth Global, says, "Commonwealth is a drive for excellence and efficiency and I am pleased to have such an experienced and talented leadership leading the Mumbai hub."

Raina has been appointed as the regional business leader of Commonwealth. She hails from McCann Erickson, where she was senior vice-president and general manager. She comes with prior experience on the GM business and has also managed agency operations in Delhi and Mumbai.

Raina, a post graduate from IIMC, started her career in 1996 as a planner at Frank Simoes. In 1998, she moved to McCann Erickson as senior account executive on the Gillette business. She was with the agency till 2004 and stepped out as brand leader. During her six years at McCann, she worked on accounts such as Gillette, Duracell, Alpenliebe, Chlormint, Happydent, Chatar Patar, Big Babol, Virgin Atlantic, India Today and Cosmopolitan.

In March 2004, she joined Grey Worldwide as client services director. She moved back to McCann for a second stint to lead the Nestle Beverages account, Dabur's toothpaste business and General Motors' portfolio, which included Chevrolet Aveo, U-VA, SRV and Optra. In the first quarter of 2007, she moved to Future Brands. Finally, in 2007, she joined Ogilvy & Mather as vice-president. Later, in 2009, she moved on to join Leo Burnett as business unit head. She joined McCann Erickson in 2010.

The other brands that she has worked on during her career are Wrigley, Carrier, Ranbaxy, Incredible India and BSNL.

The creative function of the agency, however, will be led by regional creative director Steve Hugh, who shifts from Ogilvy Dubai. He brings with him considerable experience in the automobile industry, having worked on brands such as Volvo, Volkswagen, Toyota and Honda. Starting with Saatchi & Saatchi London, he later moved on to Collett Dickenson Pearce. Hugh has also worked with Colenso BBDO in Auckland, O&M in Singapore for four years and later, joined Saatchi & Saatchi Kuala Lumpur as creative director, to work on the regional Guinness re-positioning. He created the 'Greatness' tagline that was run globally. His list of recognitions includes a Cannes gold Lion and multiple D&ADs, Cios, Cannes and One Shows.

Sandip Mahapatra as regional planning director will lead the strategic planning function. This is his second stint with McCann. A few years ago, Mahapatra headed the planning function for McCann North India before leaving for Indonesia. He has worked across the Asian region and is well regarded for his insightful and astute thinking. His articles form part of Jean Marie Dru's celebrated book, Disruption. Automobiles are his passion and he has a vast body of knowledge in the category.