Maxus South Asia names Kartik Sharma as Managing Director

GroupM and Maxus today announced the new Managing Director for Maxus South Asia- Kartik Sharma. Kartik takes over the reins from current Managing Director Ajit Varghese from January 2014, as Ajit moves into a new regional role as CEO Maxus Asia-Pacific. Kartik moves up from Managing Partner, Maxus and will report into CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia and Ajit. He will also now be a part of the GroupM South Asia EXCO.

After completing his MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in 1995, Kartik joined HTA as a Media Planner on the Unilever Business. He moved to Lintas as Channel Planning Director from 1997, where he continued to work on Unilever, in addition to clients like Bajaj Auto, Raymonds etc. In 2000 Kartik joined Mindshare where he was Planning Director from 2000-03. He was in Madison from 2003-07, heading Madison Media Research Center. Kartik has been a part of Maxus since 2007 and looked after the West region from Mumbai. He has been instrumental in the success of the agency and worked across key client relationships including Vodafone, L’oreal, Tata Sky, Shopper’s Stop to name a few.

Commenting on Kartik’s Appointment, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “Kartik has done a stellar job as Managing Partner, Maxus, working closely with Ajit in shaping the Maxus brand, creating client delight, winning several new businesses and helping Maxus dominate industry awards. I wish him the very best and also welcome him to the GroupM South Asia EXCO which will benefit immensely from his product knowledge and experience.”

Speaking on Kartik’s appointment, Ajit Varghese, Managing Director, Maxus South Asia said, “Kartik is an excellent choice for Maxus going forward especially considering his product strengths and client focus. A long standing employee of GroupM, he has the in-depth knowledge and insight of what is needed to take Maxus to the next level. Kartik has been the key architect in growing the Maxus Mumbai office 3 fold in the last 6 years and building up a collaborative culture of working across offices and between various teams inside GroupM.”

Speaking to the media about his appointment as Managing Director, Kartik Sharma said, “The last 6 years at Maxus has been very exciting. What I love most is the passion & collaborative culture where every team member works hard to deliver on our 10/10 vision of delighting clients. Our focus on constantly improving the product and the ability to develop a unique work culture has helped us deliver winning solutions for clients. I look forward to my new journey and am confident it will be equally exciting & fulfilling.”