Mindshare makes three leadership appointments in APAC

Mindshare has named Shankar Rajagopal chief client officer in APAC. Currently the CEO of Mindshare and m/SIX Vietnam, Rajagopal will relocate from Ho Chi Minh city—where he has been based for over four years—to Mindshare’s regional headquarters in Singapore. This is a new role at the agency. 

Rajagopal will assume his new role on 12th July. Rajagopal was Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 2019 Southeast Asia Agency Head of the Year. His appointment is among three Mindshare leadership appointments based in Singapore and Vietnam.

A media veteran with two decades of experience, Rajagopal grew Mindshare Vietnam into the market’s biggest media agency. Last year, the Vietnam business was crowned Mindshare Global Office of the Year internally.

“I will focus on driving the business transformation agenda for our clients in the region,” Shankar commented on his role. In his new role, he will “nurture client relationships” and ensure integration and sharing of best practices across all markets, he added.

Shankar will be replaced by Mindshare veteran Ashish Thukral, who will relocate from Singapore to Vietnam for the role, starting July 12. Thukral was most recentlymanaging partner for Unilever at Mindshare, leading global strategy and content for the media agency’s key client.

In addition, Preeti Mascarenhas has been selected as the head of strategy and product at Mindshare APAC, based in Singapore from 1 July. After a short stint outside the GroupM network, Mascarenhas has returned to Mindshare where she previously spent eight years as the GSK APAC lead. She was a member of Campaign’s Women Leading Change Awards 2020.

Rajagopal will report to Helen McRae, CEO of Mindshare APAC. Thukral will report to both McRae and Himanshu Shekhar, CEO of GroupM Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Mascarenhas will report to Rohan Lightfoot, chief growth officer, Mindshare APAC.

McRae said the three leaders have strong track records and would help drive 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,” she noted.