Shiv Sethuraman quits; Vineet Bajpai is the new CEO of TBWA India

Sethuraman has moved on from the company to pursue entrepreneurial interests.

Shiv Sethuraman, erstwhile CEO of TBWAIndia Group, has decided to move on from the company. TBWA has named Vineet Bajpai, current CEO of MAGNONTBWA, TBWA's digital arm, as CEO for the entire TBWAIndia Group, with immediate effect.

Sethuraman moves on from the company to pursue entrepreneurial interests. In 2008, he was roped in from Ogilvy Paris, where he was operating as managing director since 2005. He came back to India to join TBWAIndia as its chief executive officer.

Earlier, Sethuraman was global business director at Ogilvy Paris, leading the teams on Nestle and Louis Vuitton. On the Nestle Dairy business, he was a team leader overseeing 22 markets across three continents. Before that, he was vice-president at Ogilvy's Mumbai office, leading client servicing teams on key accounts such as Unilever and Cadbury.

Bajpai's new responsibilities will encompass TBWAIndia, MAGNONTBWA, MAGNON E-Graphics, a digital outsourcing agency that serves clients across five continents, as well as The Integer Group®, the network's retail and shopper marketing arm, across the Indian continent.

At the same time, the TBWAIndia Group has established a new management board, which reflects the roles that key individuals have played in the agency's growth over the past year. Nirmalya Sen is appointed president of advertising for the TBWAIndia Group; Parixit Bhattacharya's role as chief creative officer will encompass the total creative product for the group, including MAGNONTBWA.

Nitin Naresh is appointed managing director of the domestic digital agency, MAGNONTBWA; Vivek Merani is appointed managing director of MAGNON E-Graphics, the international digital outsourcing agency; Ketan Desai is appointed managing director of The Integer Group India; and Manosh Mukherjee is chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

In order to closely align the India Group with TBWAWorldwide, Philip Brett, president, South and Southeast Asia, TBWA, is named chairman of TBWAIndia Group.

"We are now very focused on driving our integrated offering in India forward and accelerating its growth. We're delighted that Vineet will be leading this offering. Over the past year, since we acquired the MAGNON Group, MAGNONTBWA has become a global digital offering, delivering world-class, innovative solutions for our clients," says Keith Smith, president, international, TBWAWorldwide.

Bajpai founded and led MAGNON for 14 years before and after its acquisition by TBWA at the end of 2012 and has spent the last 15 months working closely with the network's agencies in Mumbai, Delhi, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore and Dubai.

Commenting on his new appointment, Bajpai says, "I am very proud to be taking on this additional responsibility for the TBWA Group in India. My focus will be on providing the structure to help the group deliver the best, integrated offering of any agency group in India. We are extremely lucky to have such a skilled, professional and successful team in place, along with global network support, to make this happen."