Mindshare announces new leadership appointments in Singapore and Vietnam

Shankar Rajagopal has been named the CCO and Preeti Mascarenhas as the new head of strategy & product at Mindshare APAC and Ashish Thukral as MD at Mindshare and m/SIX Vietnam.

Mindshare, the media services company that is part of WPP, has announced three new leadership appointments based in Singapore and Vietnam to accelerate the agency’s Good Growth ambitions in Asia Pacific.

Shankar Rajagopal, has been named the Chief Client Officer of Mindshare APAC. Currently the CEO of Mindshare and m/SIX Vietnam, Shankar will be relocating from Ho Chi Minh city – where he has been based for over four years – to Mindshare’s regional headquarters in Singapore. Shankar will assume his new role on 12th July.

A media veteran with two decades of experience leading client accounts from Unilever to L’Oréal and HSBC as well as helming business divisions in India, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, Shankar has enjoyed an illustrious 13-year career at Mindshare. Under his leadership, Mindshare Vietnam has grown into the country’s biggest media agency and received numerous accolades including consecutive Golds for Campaign Asia’s Media Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year in Vietnam. Last year, the Vietnam business was crowned Mindshare Global Office of the Year.

Commenting on the appointment, Shankar said, “I am looking forward to my new role – the fourth within Mindshare – where I will focus on driving the business transformation agenda for our clients in the region. I am excited to lead the Mindshare Asia-Pacific Client Leader community and will partner our account leads to continue nurturing our client relationships as well as ensure seamless integration and sharing of best practices across all markets to ultimately benefit our clients.”

Mindshare veteran Ashish Thukral will relocate from Singapore to become managing director at Mindshare and m/SIX Vietnam on 12th July, succeeding the duties previously held by Shankar. Having devoted more than 16 years to the agency across two continents – Asia and Africa – Ashish brings with him extensive brand-side experience from Standard Chartered and Diageo. He has also led agency client accounts including Levi’s, Nike, Lenovo, Nestle, GSK; and was most recently, the Managing Partner for Unilever, leading the global strategy and content for Mindshare’s long-term client.

Preeti Mascarenhas has been selected as the new head of strategy & product at Mindshare APAC, based in Singapore from 1 July. After a short stint outside the GroupM network, Preeti has returned to Mindshare where she previously spent eight years as the GSK APAC lead, handling numerous client accounts and winning new businesses across the CPG, FMCG, fintech and edutech sectors.

Shankar Rajagopal will be reporting to Helen McRae, CEO of Mindshare APAC, while Ashish Thukral will report to both Helen and Himanshu Shekhar, CEO of GroupM Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Preeti Mascarenhas will report to Rohan Lightfoot, Chief Growth Officer of Mindshare APAC.

Helen McRae, Mindshare APAC CEO, said, “Shankar, Ashish and Preeti boast excellent track records driving Good Growth and award-winning innovation across APAC. These are some of our brightest talents whose intimate knowledge of the region and deep domain expertise set them apart as forerunners in the ad tech industry. I’m confident they will continue to deliver exemplary work for our clients in their new roles.”