JAKARTA / PHILIPPINES – Mindshare Asia Pacific has started the new year with the announcement of new leadership taking the helm at two critical South East Asian offices in Indonesia and Philippines.
Sudesh Puthran the current Managing Director of Mindshare Philippines will move to Jakarta effective January and become the Managing Director of Mindshare Indonesia. Sudesh replaces Himanshu Shekhar who previously held the role along with the South East Asia leadership role for Mindshare. Himanshu was promoted to become the CEO of GroupM Indonesia in early 2019. Mindshare will not be replacing the CEO of South East Asia role at this stage.
Sudesh has been with Mindshare for nearly 11.5 years across the Philippines and Indonesia markets in various stints. The move represents a return to a market very close to him as he has spent over 8 years in Indonesia in various client leadership roles at Mindshare and also a couple of years at the client side with Coca Cola prior to becoming MD of the Philippines market.
During his time in Philippines, Sudesh has taken the agency to new heights winning Gold for Campaign Asia’s Philippines Media Agency of the Year three years in a row from 2017 to 2019 and overseeing the integration of the Unilever business. Prior to Mindshare Sudesh held various planning roles at local and regional levels in India, Dubai and Singapore.
“Really excited to be back with Indonesia, one of the largest SEA markets for Mindshare, looking forward to connect with the stellar Indonesian team and continue the journey of growth and success” said Sudesh Puthran commenting on his move.
Taking over as Managing Director of the Philippines office is Abhishek Gupta who is currently the lead for the Unilever business in the Philippines market.
Abhishek is yet another Mindshare veteran having spent a little over 13 years at Mindshare. Abhishek has grown up on the Unilever business in the agency. He started out in Mumbai and soon came into the Unilever Regional team in Singapore growing through the ranks to become Regional Director. The opportunity to lead the Unilever business in Philippines as the business transitioned into Mindshare has provided Abhishek the opportunity to set some new benchmarks for work coming out of Philippines winning several awards at festivals like the Tangrams, WARC, MMA and Festival of Media.
“I am excited to take this new opportunity. It is a great role with immense possibilities to create bespoke products powered by data, technology, content and commerce. I look forward to continuing to work with the brightest minds in the industry and committed to drive Mindshare growth and ambition in Philippines” said Abhishek on his promotion.
“It’s great to see some of our brightest talent find their next big career steps within the company itself. Sudesh and Abhishek truly represent the Mindshare values of Speed, Teamwork and Provocation and am delighted for them as they start the next big chapters of their careers. Indonesia and Philippines are two powerhouse offices for us in South East Asia and I look forward to the two setting new benchmarks” said Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Mindshare Asia Pacific commenting on both promotions.
