Advisory Category: Advisory Board 2026

Kushal Sanghvi is every bit the Media Evangelist. A penchant for advertising, media and communications drove him to this industry where he has thrived since the last 22 years.

A large part of his innings has been with media companies and digital/ tech. He sees New Media as an integral part of brand expansion. Globally and across Asia his roles with iconic companies such as Reliance Group, Fremantle Media, Havas Media, The Times of India Group has led to unparalleled intelligence in Media thereby creating marketing success stories for those brands and has been pivotal to scale business and operations for those companies. Someone who has been part of various start up teams and then gone ahead to make them successful ventures in terms of people, it’s clients, defining processes and of course scaling and running those businesses.

At his capacity as Managing Director, South Asia at Havas Digital which he founded in India and went ahead to have teams across the region, he also led the company for its social media across a global committee that was headquartered at Paris and its earliest times also started out Mobext the mobile advertising solutions agency under Havas too.

He has essayed roles in Print, Television, OOH, Content and the invention of interactive television in India for the pioneering show ‘Indian Idol’ for Sony Television in the country. Having worked with over 400 brands in his career till now he always willing to learn more and that’s what keeps him going daily. Has also been involved with the Govt of India too and helped them in various facets of marketing, brand and technology.

Being a creative thinker with a passion for creating products, content, platforms and solutions his most poignant creation being the inception of Rediff.com as a founder member, a tipping point in his career graph.

In his role at the Reliance ADA Group he leads all digital transformation across all Reliance group companies working closely with the CXO’s and has incorporated a digital marketing services company for the Group.

An MBA from NMIMS, he loves playing mentor and terms people management as a stepping stone to achieve targets and has been an active guest lecturer in leading institutes across India: the various IIM’s, IIT’s, NMIMS, SP Jain, JBIMS, ISME, MET, Rizvi, Wellingkar, MICA, ISB, Indira Institute, Somaiya, Nirma Institute, XLRI, FMS, Symbiosis to name a few. He has done his doctorate in consumer behaviour with regards to the impact of the various roles of media and communication triggers. He has also been part of platforms like Teach for India and in his spare time also teaches at various NGO’s, slums and villages across the country as he believes that education is a two way process and a country like India that has its largest population in its youth and also in smaller cities needs to all be trained and envisioned for a better India.

He is receipent of over 50 awards locally and internationally in the domain of advertising, marketing, media, content, digital marketing and technology and has been voted by various tabloids, publications, media like Exchange4media, Afaqs, Campaign, World Brand Congress as being among the top 10 digital marketers in the country for many years now. Afaqs has featured him as among the top 50 newsmakers in media in 2014 and 2015.

Kushal is a regular speaker at various media and marketing events and platforms such as FICCI, IAMAI, Ad Club, Afaqs, E4M,TFMA, NASSCOM, MIPCOM, Campaign, Adobe, ICOM Global, CII in India and globally to name a few where he loves to champion the cause of media and garner new talent into this industry. Recently in 2014 was one of the only 2 Indians to speak at Websummit, Ireland which is the largest digital marketing festivals in the world that attracts over 70,000 people. Has also spoken regularly at the largest mobile marketing platform at World Mobile Congress at Barcelona in 2014, 2015, and 2016 which has over 1,00,000 people attend in and he was one of the few Indian’s to speak there. He has been part of the jury for various marketing, media, content, television, advertising awards in the last over 8 years. He is also on the board of some leading international marketing and media associations like CEBIT, TFMA, Ad Tech, ICOM Global, GIIFFA, DMAI to name a few. He has also been involved in mentoring various start-ups especially in the mobile, ad-tech, data- analytics, social-media, e-commerce, gaming, media space and has also invested into some of the same ventures too.

In his spare time Kushal loves to read, write, paint and sculpt, dabble in cooking, watch movies, travel and explore the world, meet new people and explore new cultures, hike, listen to all sorts of world and Indian music. He loves all that’s tech and is often always the first to try new technology, gadgets and more. He is a car freak and loves to drive, often dabbles in a game of badminton and tries to keep fit with being in nature and doing his walks or a good swim.

Akash Deep Batra is the Executive Director and Head of Marketing, Growth, Customer Experience and Analytics at DBS Bank. Akash leads a team of over 70 functional experts to drive marketing, consumer acquisition through digital and physical channels, portfolio growth through digital campaigns, consumer research & insights, consumer experience (including UI/UX), business analytics, and cognitive banking across the DBS India consumer banking business and brands.

Before DBS, Akash was Head of Brand Communication, Corporate Brand and Digital at Nestlé India. In his 7-year-long stint at Nestle, he was also the head of digital and eCommerce for the Asia Pacific Region. Akash has also worked at Infosys for over 9 years in various roles in business consulting, product management, and technology management functions.

Recognized as one of the Top 50 Marketers in 2021 by the BusinessWorld Magazine, Akash is a frequent speaker at various industry conferences and universities across the world and a commentator on trends & innovations in marketing & technology.

He is an engineer from Kurukshetra University and a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB).

Acknowledged as a visionary in digital media and advertising, Neena has more than 20 years of experience building organizations that lead the charge on effective and efficient communication.

The industry has recognised her leadership prowess, featuring her at No 35 in the Impact Most Influential Women 2018 list. She was also named a jury member for Social Samosa’s Social Media #Superwomen 2018.

Zirca, Neena’s brainchild, is a company she launched and built into a 130-people-strong firm. Award-winning ContentdB—Asia’s first native advertising management platform—and ContentiQ, the world’s first content intelligence platform, are a result of her passion for effective communication and facilitating meaningful brand conversations.

An innovator, Neena banks on her ability to stay ahead of the curve in the digital marketing and advertising industry. For this reason, she was nicknamed ‘The Sixth Sense’ while she was at the BBC in India, where she headed advertising sales.

She has been aggressively involved in expanding and scaling Zirca’s footprint. Her track record and strong business skills have enabled Zirca to grow exponentially over the years. Her ability to engage with key clients like The Economist, Getit and the Al Jazeera group of channels is a testament to her nuanced understanding of technology, products and solutions across diverse platforms.

Neena is passionate about gender diversity and getting women, who have taken a break (because of parenthood or other reasons), back into the workforce. More than 40% of Zirca comprises women. The firm is an equal-opportunity employer, focused on quality rather than quantity; and it has introduced policies like flexi hours, and mentoring and counselling for women at work.

Neena’s dream is to retain women at the workplace and not lose them to parenthood. Therefore she’s part of the mentoring committee for the next generation of women in the media space at the India chapter of the International Advertising Association.

She has an MBA degree and has also undergone an executive programme in Leadership and General Management at INSEAD. She has a son and a daughter and is passionate about cooking. Neena’s advice to professional women is: value yourself and love yourself. Don’t let others tell you who you are, what you should do, and where you should be in life. Make your own choices and be courageous to live with any outcomes they bring.