Ogilvy Appoints Devika Bulchandani Global Chief Executive Officer

Advertising, marketing and public relations giant Ogilvy has appointed Devika Bulchandani as its Global Chief Executive Officer, joining a growing group of Indian-origin business leaders at the helm of multinational corporations.

Devika most recently served as Global President and CEO of Ogilvy North America. She takes the helm from Andy Main who is stepping down as Global CEO and will serve as a Senior Advisor until the end of the year, the company announced on Wednesday.

In this role she will be responsible for all aspects of the creative network's business across 131 offices in 93 countries and spanning its Advertising, Public Relations, Experience, Consulting, and Health units, the company said in a press release.

Devika is a champion of creativity who brings passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on generating impact to everything she does. In partnership with Andy and Liz Taylor, she has been instrumental in Ogilvy's recent growth and development," Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said.

"Her love for our industry, deep understanding of clients' needs, and track record of delivering growth for agencies and brands, make her the perfect choice to lead Ogilvy to even greater success, Read said.

Commenting on her elevation, Devika Bulchandani said: David Ogilvy changed the industry 74 years ago when he founded this iconic agency. As we write the next chapter in the history books of Ogilvy, we will do it together with our clients, using creativity to push the boundaries of what's possible. I am honored and humbled to take on this role, and to do it with all our incredibly talented people all over the world.

Prior to joining Ogilvy, Devika spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles including President of McCann North America.

With her appointment as the global chief executive of Ogilvy, Devika joins a growing list of Indian-origin CEOs at the helm of some of the biggest companies in the US.

She joins the growing list that includes Sundar Pichai - CEO, Google LLC & Alphabet Inc, Satya Nadella - CEO, Microsoft, Parag Agrawal - CEO, Twitter, Leena Nair, Chanel, Arvind Krishna - CEO, IBM Group, Shantanu Narayen - CEO, Adobe Inc and Ajaypal Singh Banga - CEO, Mastercard.