GroupM appoints Kartik Sharma as Managing Director of NewCo

Media agency GroupM today said Kartik Sharma has been appointed Managing Director of 'NewCo', the new media, content and technology agency in India and South Asia which it will launch in January 2018.
GroupM had recently announced its agencies MEC and Maxus will be merging to form a billion-dollar revenue, global media, content and technology agency.
The merger will officially come into effect from January 2018 and until then MEC and Maxus willl continue to operate as separate agency brands.
Sharma has been Managing Director of Maxus South Asia since 2014.
He will report to GroupM South Asia Chief Executive Officer CVL Srinivas and Global CEO of MEC and CEO of NewCo Tim Castree.

GroupM also announced that T Gangadhar, the current Managing Director of MEC South Asia, will transition into the new role of Chairman of India and Managing Director of North Asia, Essence, a digital first agency.

He will be based in Mumbai and report to Kyoko Matsushita, CEO of Essence APAC.
Anand Chakravarthy, who has served as Managing Partner at Maxus India since 2015, will be transitioning into the role of Managing Director of Essence India. Chakravarthy will report to both Gangadhar and Matsushita and work closely with the regional leadership in his new role.
Both Gangadhar and Chakravarthy will assume their new roles by January 2018.