Dentsu appoints Umesh Shrikhande to join Taproot India as Chief Executive Officer

Dentsu India Group today announced the appointment of Umesh Shrikhande as the new Chief Executive Officer of Taproot India. The former CEO of Contract India, Umesh is an advertising veteran with more than 20 years of rich experience.

Shrikhande, a management graduate from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, started his career with Lintas (now Lowe Lintas & Partners), where he spent six years. Thereafter he was a core member of Team Contract that led the agency to great success. More recently, he took over from Jagdip Bakshi as the CEO of Contract India in 2008.

After Lintas, Shrikhande joined Contract for a long spell of nine years. He then joined Euro RSCG. Subsequently, he also worked with Lemon (Founded by Ravi Deshpande), after which he came back to Contract in 2005.

Shrikhande has worked closely with various divisions at Contract in the areas of design, direct and digital to enhance traditional advertising. Having worked with a variety of clients and brands such as HSBC, Cadbury, Asian Paints, Shopper’s Stop, Philips, VIP, Bajaj Auto, BBC World, Aegon-Religare, Tata Indicom, Disney, Zoom, DNA and Grasim, Shrikhande is poised to help take one of the most exciting creative boutiques in India – Taproot India, to the next level of growth and expansion. Taproot India now has a solid team of talented and capable professionals who will ensure that Taproot’s creative quality is creates new industry benchmarks.

Welcoming Shrikhande into the group, Rohit Ohri, Executive Chairman of the Dentsu India Group, said, “I’m delighted that Umesh has chosen to join us. Aggi, Paddy and I look forward to his partnership in this exciting new phase of growth at Taproot. Umesh is an industry professional I’ve always had the highest regard for and now, I’m happy to have this opportunity to work with him.”

On Umesh Shrikhande joining team Taproot at the helm, Agnello Dias, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Taproot India said, “I am glad to have Umesh’s vast experience on our side, which will be a guiding light for us as we scramble around doing what we think is the right thing. He is sharp, insightful and most important possesses great clarity on the way mass communication in the contemporary world works. Everything we need.”

Speaking on his appointment as the new CEO of Taproot India, Shrikhande said, “Aggi and Paddy are not just immensely talented, they also happen to be wonderful people who have managed to build an attractive reputation for Taproot despite a hugely competitive environment. I consider it a delightful privilege to get this opportunity to work with them and with their wonderful and energetic team.

Our collective endeavour will be to build on Taproot’s innate strengths and culture to create a stronger organisation. I hope that my understanding of strategy, people and relationships, helps me to make a difference.”

“With the kind of experience Umesh has and the number of youngsters Taproot has, it will be a wonderful blend,” said Santosh Padhi, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Taproot India.