Vikram Sakhuja, Partner and Director, Madison World and Dhruba Mukherjee, CEO, ABP have been unanimously elected as MRUCI’s Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively.
Shashidhar Sinha will take over as the Chairman of the IRS, Technical Committee. The announcement was made at MRUCI’s Board meeting which was held shortly after its AGM.
Sakhuja takes over the mantle from Shailesh Gupta, Wholetime Director, Jagran Prakashan, who served as MRUCI’s Chairman for two consecutive terms i.e. from 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.
While handing over the mantle, Gupta stated, “The Board’s approval of the pilot marks a significant milestone for the Indian Readership Survey. By beginning with a metro and two states, we are ensuring financial prudence while building operational confidence. The learnings from this phase will guide the nationwide rollout, delivering a robust and credible readership measurement system that the print industry deserves. I sincerely thank our Board Members and stakeholders for their support and extend my best wishes to Mr. Vikram Sakhuja and the new Board.”
Sakhuja in his vote of thanks stated, ”I thank Shailesh Gupta for his leadership and guidance. I am deeply honoured to take on the role of Chairman at MRUCI and thank the Board for placing their confidence in me. Our endeavour is to restore the IRS as the gold standard in readership research and the most credible survey in the country.”
Three new members have also been appointed to the Board of Governors, viz:
- Navaneeth LV, CEO, THG Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
- Surinder Chawla, President, Response, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
- Shashidhar Sinha, Executive Chairman, Mediabrands – India
- Upali Nag, President Strategy – South Asia, WPP Media
Sakhuja, Partner and Director, Madison World is a respected member of India’s marketing and media fraternity. Across his 38 year career, he has been the Global CEO of Maxus WW, a GroupM company; the CEO of GroupM South Asia and CEO of Mindshare South Asia. He has also held senior marketing, media and market research positions in P&G, Coca-Cola and Star TV.
He has served on several industry body boards/ committees including ASCI, ABC, RSCI, BARC, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, AAAI committees with ISA, INS and IBDF. He is the current Chairman of the Technical Committee for BARC, Board member of ABC, Co-chair of IBDF-AAAI subcommittee on payments and Ad Club past President. He has consistently been voted one of the most influential persons in Indian Media by the Economic Times.
Dhruba Mukherjee, CEO, ABP joined in 1997. He joined as a management trainee and during his career in ABP spanning over two decades he has handled responsibilities in brand management, audience development, advertisement sales and production functions before taking over as CEO.
