Nikhil Rangnekar to lead Starcom’s West India operations

Nikhil Rangnekar has been elevated to the position of executive director, India West, from his present position of general manager in charge of the Procter & Gamble account

Starcom Worldwide, part of the Starcom MediaVest Group, has elevated Nikhil Rangnekar to the position of executive director, India West, from his present position of general manager on the Procter & Gamble account. He will continue to report to Manish Porwal, managing director, India West and South, and assume his new role before the end of the year.

Porwal says, “Most of our client companies are witnessing dramatic business growth. They are full of optimism about their future and are scaling up their marketing investments. In addition, some of Mumbai’s biggest account shifts this year have been in our favour, including Jet Airways, JetLite, Tata Housing, Mirae Assets, and Kotak Mahindra. Nikhil’s elevation to his new role adds depth to our management bandwidth and will help us engage our clients better and further consolidate our service offering.”

Ravi Kiran, chief executive officer, South Asia, Starcom MediaVest Group, says, “Nikhil is a true blue Starcomer, having spent his entire media career in our organisation. He understands the DNA of Starcom in its entirety and is loved as a coach and a mentor by our people. I am happy that he is taking a larger and business role in the organisation and congratulate him heartily.”

Rangnekar is a 1997 batch business management postgraduate from Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai University, He joined Starcom from the campus. Over the first three years he spent at the agency, he worked on almost all of the agency’s key accounts, including Procter & Gamble, Heinz, Balsara and Fiat.

Rangnekar returned to Starcom in 2003 after a three year stint in running his family business. Starting with Balsara and Raymond Apparels as the key clients in his second stint, his portfolio expanded to include Fiat, HDFC and other clients. In 2005, he took charge of the P&G AOR, which he has been running successfully since then. He also spearheads Starcom’s research initiatives apart from representing the company at various industry bodies.