Debraj Tripathy to leave MediaCom; Navin Khemka will take over as CEO, South Asia

MediaCom India has announced that Navin Khemka will be taking over as CEO of its South Asia operations effective 16 July 2018. He is currently managing partner (North and East) and New Business Development Lead for Wavemaker India. 

 

Khemka will take over from Debraj Tripathy who will be leaving the organisation. Khemka will be based in Gurugram and report into the incoming GroupM South Asia CEO Sam Singh and Mark Heap, CEO Mediacom Asia Pacific. Tripathy had joined Mediacom in 2011.

 

CVL Srinivas, country manager,  WPP India, said, “WPP and GroupM are making many investments into areas that will further enhance our market-leading capabilities in India and South Asia. We are excited to see Navin take on this role. With his experience and energy, we are sure he will take MediaCom to even further heights by leveraging all that our group has to offer, for the benefit of our clients. Debraj has done a terrific job leading MediaCom. He has been a fantastic colleague and a very admired leader.”

 

Heap said, “The search for a new leader has been an exciting one as there is no shortage of strong talent in India. We considered many candidates from within and outside the group and unanimously knew that Navin was the choice. Alongside our successes in India in recent years, MediaCom globally have built up tremendous positive momentum, winning more new business than any other agency in 2017 and being awarded the current Global Agency of the Year awards by Festival of Media, Campaign and Adweek. In Navin, we have a leader with stellar raw talent and a real thirst for growth, who can capitalise on the enabling assets of the MediaCom global network and the strength of GroupM and WPP India.  I’m really looking forward to working with him to lead us boldly to a new level of success for our staff and our clients.”

 

Khemka added, “I am excited to continue my GroupM journey with MediaCom. Given MediaCom’s dominant global position and aggressive plans am confident we will able to drive growth and lead the agency to the next level. The future is promising with the dynamic media landscape in India and the challenge will be to lead this change by driving relevance and effective ROI for our brands, including several blue-chip clients.”

 

Khemka had joined Maxus New Delhi in 2014 after stints with ZenithOptimedia, Cheil and Mudra.