Sudarshan Banerjee to head Ignite Mudra; Chandan Nath to continue as advisor

Sudarshan Banerjee, vice-president, Mudra India will take over charge from Chandan Nath as head of the Ahmedabad-based Ignite Mudra on April 1. Chandan Nath, president, Ignite Mudra, will step down, but continue in the role of an advisor.

Sudarshan has been vice-president, Mudra India, for the last two years, leading the new business agenda in the Mudra West operation.

The Mudra group has four verticals - Mudra Communications, DDB Mudra Group, Mudra Max and Ignite Mudra. Ignite Mudra is the group's specialist services division that looks into building brands created by entrepreneurs.

Banerjee, armed with 15-years of experience in advertising, joined Mudra in 2009, and looked after its new businesses. In his new capacity, he intends moving Ignite Mudra, the erstwhile Mudra Ahmedabad, out of the local periphery, and create a wider role for it in the Mudra Group.

Throughout his career, Banerjee has assumed various roles in media, servicing and strategic planning across brand categories. He joined Mudra from Genesis Advertising where he was heading the Mumbai branch as vice-president and general manager. He was also in-charge of Exhibit Genesis, which works in the area of exhibitions.

Prior to Genesis, Banerjee was with Saatchi & Saatchi, where he was associate vice-president -- client servicing, and worked on TVS Flame and aol.in.

He began his career with Onyx Associates in Kolkata as an account executive. He has also worked with Grey, Bates 141, iContract, MediaCom, MEC (then Zenith Media), and MPG.

Nath is an old Mudra hand, and has been associated with the group for over 17 years. He joined the group in 1993 as an associate account director, and worked on brands such as Vimal, Rasna and Dhara, having steadily moved up the ranks over the years.

Nath has been responsible for managing and growing one of Mudra's largest clients - Paras Pharmaceuticals. He began his advertising career in 1982 at Speer Communications before moving to Rediffusion Y&R where he was responsible for the successful re-launch of Gold Spot.

When Mudra Ahmedabad was dissolved to form Ignite Mudra in 2009, Nath who headed Mudra Ahmedabad, took over Ignite Mudra as its head.

The agency's major clients include Zydus, Adani Wilmar, Nilon's and Bharat Forge among others.