Bobby Pawar steps down as Havas chief

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Ad industry veteran Bobby Pawar, chairman and chief creative officer of Havas India, will step down at the end of his five-year stint in September, the company said. Pawar, who has had a career over 30 years, will also leave the advertising industry. The company said that Anupama (Anu) Ramaswamy, who joined as chief creative officer last year, will head Havas Worldwide.

Along with chief executive Tarun Jha and chief strategy officer Anirban Mozumdar, they will oversee all three of its offices. Rana Barua will remain group CEO. Pawar was earlier chief creative officer of JWT, and spent four and a half years as the chief creative officer at DDB Mudra Group.

He said he looked back at his time at the agency with pride, and that he was excited about the concept of ‘Havas Village’, which brings together people from across all disciplines and lets them work side-by-side. This, he said, gave him and Rana Barua, the group’s CEO, the freedom to build and run the agency from the ground up, like entrepreneurs. Under the two, he said Havas India underwent a transformation and saw growth over the last five years giving the agency the opportunity to build a digital-first ecosystem.

“Writing will be a big part of whatever I dive into next. I am nothing if not a storyteller, a craftsman who chisels prose with a pen," Pawar said in a statement. He added that he was grateful to French businessman Yannick Bollore, who is currently the chairman and chief executive officer of Havas, for his faith in them.