GroupM Media's CEO Prashanth Kumar elected president of AAAI

Prasanth Kumar, the chief executive officer (CEO) for South Asia of GroupM Media has worked at Pepsi, The Hindu, and The Media Edge & McCann Erickson in a career spanning more than 25 years

Prasanth Kumar, the chief executive officer (CEO) for South Asia of GroupM Media (India) Pvt Ltd, has been elected the president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for 2022-23. Kumar will replace Anupriya Acharya, who will now be the ex-officio member of the AAAI Board for 2022-23.

"Advertising is, in my opinion, a dynamic and idea-driven industry. Collaboration with industry organisations will allow us to shape the industry in a progressive way that benefits everybody. I look forward to building synergies with like-minded people and organisations, and I believe that we will be able to achieve our goals if we work together," Kumar said on his appointment.

Kumar has an experience of over 25 years in the industry. He worked at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge & McCann Erickson before joining GroupM. He has also been vice president of AAAI from 2020 to 2022.

Rana Barua, the group CEO of Havas Group India, was unanimously elected the vice president of the AAAI. Other elected members of the board are Vivek Srivastava, Vishandas Hardasani, Kunal Lalani, Rohan Mehta, Chandramouli Muthu, Sridhar Ramasubramanian, Shashidhar Sinha, and K Srinivas.

"It has been a privilege to hold the office of president and take on the responsibilities that come with it for the last two years...I would also like to congratulate Prasanth Kumar on his election as president. He has been a key member of the Indian media and advertising industry for a long time. I'm sure he will take the Association from strength to strength," Acharya said.