Andre Nair now chairman & CEO of Mediaedge:cia, Asia Pacific

In a series of significant developments, Andre Nair - who holds the dual position of CEO of MindShare, South Asia, and GroupM India - has been promoted to the post of chairman and CEO of Mediaedge:cia (MEC), Asia Pacific, the media unit of GroupM. However, he continues to be on the board of GroupM India as chairman. Filling the slot vacated by Nair is Ashutosh Srivastava, managing director, MindShare, South Asia. With effect from October 1, 2004, Srivastava would take charge as CEO, GroupM, South Asia, while Vikram Sakhuja, managing director, MindShare Fulcrum, South Asia, would become managing director, MindShare, South Asia. Sakhuja, however, retains his current profile of managing MindShare Fulcrum.

According to a company release, Nair has been quoted saying, "I am fully committed to the MEC vision of becoming the first truly global practitioners of communications planning and implementation, and I hope I can bring some complimentary experience, entrepreneurialism and passion to achieve this goal."

The news of Nair's new role comes close on the heels of changes at helm of MEC, internationally. Mark Austin, CEO of MEC, Asia Pacific, is slated to take charge as chairman of MEC for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), working closely with the CEO of MEC EMEA Dominic Grainger. Both will report to Mainardo de Nardis, global CEO of MEC.

Commenting on the development, in the prepared note, de Nardis said, "We have a sensational business in EMEA which over the years has gone from strength to strength - we are at the very top in terms of ranking, and operate with 2000-plus people across some 43 markets. I am very happy to hand over my current EMEA responsibilities to Mark Austin, and believe that working as a team with the current CEO and CFO Dominic Grainger and David Ng, who have successfully developed this region over the years, they will be an unbeatable management team."

He further added, "I am also very excited to have Andre joining MEC to run APAC. I expect him to build on our successes to date with further great improvements in the future thanks to his immense experience and his unique balance between media marketing expertise and business management skills. The opportunity to move Andre from MindShare to MEC represents another key benefit of being part of GroupM. I will now have more time to dedicate to my global role alongside Charles Courtier (MEC Worldwide Executive Chairman), focusing on developing our people, our offer and ultimately, our clients' businesses, across geography." © 2004 agencyfaqs!