Mindshare appoints new MDs in Indonesia, Philippines

Mindshare Asia Pacific announced that Sudesh Puthran, current MD in the Philippines, will take over as Indonesia MD while Abhishek Gupta, currently the lead for Mindshare's Unilever business in the Philippines, will be promoted to MD in that market.

Puthran replaces Himanshu Shekhar, who was Indonesia MD and CEO of Southeast Asia until he was promoted to CEO of GroupM Indonesia in early 2019. Mindshare said it will not be replacing the SEA CEO role at this stage.

Both Puthran and Gupta are longtime Mindshare employees: Puthran for 11.5 years in the Philippines and Indonesia and Gupta for 13 years in Mumbai, Singapore and the Philippines.

Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Mindshare Asia Pacific, said that both men represent the Mindshare values of speed, teamwork and provocation. "Indonesia and Philippines are two powerhouse offices for us in Southeast Asia, and I look forward to the two setting new benchmarks,” she said.

The move to Jakarta represents a return to the market for Puthran, who spent over eight years in Indonesia in various client leadership roles at Mindshare, as well as a couple of years with Coca-Cola, prior to becoming Mindshare's MD in the Philippines market. Prior to Mindshare he held planning roles at the local and regional levels in India, Dubai and Singapore.

Prior to leading the Unilever business in the Philippines, Gupta started his Mindshare career in Mumbai, then joined the Unilever regional team in Singapore, eventually becoming regional director.