SMG's CVL Srinivas to join GroupM as South Asia CEO

GroupM Asia Pacific has announced that CVL Srinivas (known as "Srini") will join GroupM early in 2013 to succeed Vikram Sakhuja as GroupM South Asia chief executive officer. He will have the responsibility for all GroupM operations in India, Pakistan, Srl Lanka and Bangladesh. Srinivas will also join the GroupM Asia Pacific executive committee. He will report to Mark Patterson, Asia Pacific chief executive officer, GroupM.

Since 2010, Srinivas was chairman, Starcom MediaVest Group India (SMG), and managing director, LiquidThread APAC. In earlier roles with GroupM, he was with Maxus as India head from 2003 to 2006, and was briefly the first Maxus Asia Pacific head (2006).

On the appointment, Patterson commented, "Srini was our first choice by some stretch for this role. In his previous roles in GroupM he excelled and he rejoins us with more and different experiences under his belt which will serve our clients, our people and our ambitions well. We have a world class business in the region and Srini has the skills, personality, relationships and attitude to build the business on strategy and with his own style and ideas too. He will add huge value in South Asia, to our business in the wider Asia Pacific region and no doubt worldwide too. I am personally very excited and delighted to work with Srini closely once again as I am sure are many of his colleagues and friends in GroupM."

Srinivas said, "I am  really looking forward to taking up this role and going back to an organisation where I learnt the ropes and built a business. Vikram and his team have done a phenomenal job in growing the business and diversifying the service offerings to date. I am thrilled to be joining a talented team and working with such a portfolio of powerful media brands and fantastic clients. Mark has outlined a vision for the business regionally and globally that I am excited and challenged about and one I look forward to participating in fully."

Vikram Sakhjua, who will take on the charge of global chief executive officer for Maxus, said, "It has been a privilege and a joy over the past fifteen years to work with Srini as a client, a colleague and a competitor. Srini brings truly disruptive thinking to the party and to my mind is the best person I can think of to take GroupM South Asia to an increasingly integrated, digital, data driven and addressable age. Welcome back to the family Srini."