Ajay Verma appointed chief growth officer at Draftfcb Ulka

After a digital and entrepreneurial stint, Verma will join the agency to lead business development.

Ajay Verma, founder and managing partner, ShareOnAir Media, has joined Draftfcb Ulka as chief growth officer. In his new role, Verma will steer new business development initiatives and closely work with various agencies and divisions of the Draftfcb Ulka Group. Interestingly, Verma began his career in advertising in the agency, then known as FCB Ulka, as a management trainee in 1993.

After quitting Draftfcb Ulka in 1999, Verma joined Rediffusion for five years. Later, he moved to Contract and handled a bulk of the Mumbai office accounts before rejoining Rediffusion as senior vice-president. After a three-and-a-half year stint, he joined Percept in 2007. As senior vice-president and branch head at Percept Mumbai, he secured 13 new businesses within a one-year stint.

He then moved to try his hand at entrepreneurship by setting up eBUS Media Network, a digital television advertising delivery system, as CEO. Verma sold the set up to Aidem Ventures and moved to ShareOnAir Media, which airs uploaded videos having high votes on TV, last year. The company also develops software and applications for mobile phones.

Verma is an MBA from Mumbai University. In a career spanning 16 years, he has worked on brands such as Colgate, HSBC, Cadbury, Tata Motors, Rediff.com, Franklin Templeton, Tata Sky, Amul, Godrej and HPCL.

He says, "I have always loved doing something different all the time. So, when the opportunity to start my own venture came up, which was also attached to the advertising industry, I took it." Although he loved the thrill of working in a fast evolving internet technology industry, he was missing the fun and excitement in a large agency network, he says.

M G Parameswaran, executive director and CEO, Draftfcb Ulka says that Verma was one of the brightest Star One (the agency's 23-year long internship training programme) recruits in the agency. "He will work across various verticals helping us leverage our great strengths, and open new opportunities for the various offerings of the agency,"

he states.