To power the agency’s leap forward to the next phase of growth, Leo Burnett, part of the Publicis Groupe India, has announced new appointments to its senior leadership team in Mumbai.
These include the elevation of Abhimanyu Khedkar to the role of Managing Partner and the onboarding of Neetika Aggarwal and Saurabh Dahiya as Managing Partner and Head of Strategy, respectively.
That being said, Khedkar and Aggarwal will lead Leo Burnett Mumbai on the business front and Dahiya will lead and drive the strategic function at the agency.
As per the agency, its enhanced leadership structure is designed for a culture of greater empowerment, agility in decision making, and the capability to drive more of the new age solutions for clients that Leo Burnett has been making a name for itself for.
Joining Leo Burnett Mumbai in January 2016 as Vice President, Khedkar was elevated to the role of SVP in January 2019, EVP in October 2020 and Executive Director in July 2023 before assuming the role of Managing Partner at the agency. Apart from Leo Burentt, he also worked with Minority Brand Creation and Management, BBH India, Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis Ambience and Percept H in the past.
On the other hand, prior to joining Leo Burnett Mumbai as Managing Partner to bolster its partnerships, expertise, and capabilities, Aggarwal was associated with VMLY&R (now merged with Wunderman Thompson to form VML) as Executive Client Officer- Head (West and South) since August 2023. Before that, she served as Head of Business and Integration Lead- Red Fuse India at Red Fuse Communications for over two years, starting August 2021. In the past, she also worked with JWT, TBWA India, Rediffusion DY&R and SSC&B Lintas.
Similarly, Dahiya who joined the agency a few months back as Executive Director and Head of Strategy was also associated with what is known as VML today from July 2020 to August 2023. Prior to that, he worked with BBDO Worldwide, Jack in the Box Worldwide, MullenLowe Lintas Group and Triton Communications in the past.
Commenting on the leadership changes, Amitesh Rao, CEO, Leo Burnett South Asia, said, “Leo Burnett Mumbai is one of the top creative agencies in the country today, having seen an incredible run of success in paving the way for new age solutions for its clients. It is also an agency with insatiable ambition and hunger, and the enhanced leadership team is at the vanguard of our future growth and glory. I am delighted to have Abhimanyu, Neetika and Saurabh – with their diverse strategic, corporate and client backgrounds – bring brilliant new perspective to our journey going forward.”
