Maxus promotes Ajit Varghese as CEO, APAC

Effective January 2014, Varghese will oversee Maxus operations in all APAC countries. He will relocate to Singapore and will report to Mark Patterson and Vikram Sakhuja.

WPP's GroupM has promoted Ajit Varghese to the role of CEO, Maxus Asia Pacific, effective January 2014.

Currently, Varghese is designated managing director of Maxus South Asia.

In his new role, Varghese will oversee Maxus operations in all Asia Pacific countries. He will take over the role from Neil Stewart, who is being promoted as chief client officer of Maxus Global. Both Varghese and Stewart will work closely during the six-month transition period.

As CEO of Maxus APAC, Varghese will relocate to Singapore and will report to Mark Patterson, CEO, GroupM APAC and Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, Maxus Global.

CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia, says, "Ajit has been an outstanding leader for Maxus and a great ambassador for GroupM. He combines intellect with a passion for delivering the best value for his clients. He has helped create a very unique culture at Maxus and truly embodies the Maxus spirit. All of us at GroupM are very proud of his achievements and wish him the very best in his new role."

Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, Maxus Global, adds, "Ajit has displayed exceptional leadership to make Maxus one of India's best and biggest agencies. With this promotion, I am very excited that Ajit will now lead Maxus APAC. I have no doubt that with his brand of entrepreneurial leadership, Maxus APAC will scale new heights."

Varghese has been responsible for scaling up Maxus in India and South Asia over the last seven years.

On getting a new role at the company, Varghese says, "The last seven years at Maxus has been an exciting journey; we have built a strong portfolio of clients, secured their trust, delivered them a world-class product and picked up many accolades along the way. We have worked hard to develop our value proposition, building a Maxus spirit and culture that will help sustain and propel our business in the coming years. I'm now looking forward to learning and contributing more to Maxus and GroupM across the region and I am sure the journey will be as exciting and fruitful in the coming years. India obviously continues to be part of my scope and will remain close to my heart."

For the record, before joining Maxus in 2006, Varghese was with Madison Media Infinity for seven years. Varghese, a postgraduate from XIMB, began his career at IMRB, after which he moved to Lintas to be a part of the strategic planning team on Hindustan Lever.