MUMBAI: Mindshare has appointed Ravi Rao as Mindshare MENA chief client officer. Rao was earlier Mindshare, South Asia leader. He will be taking over his role from 1 May, 2015 and will be based in the Dubai office.

On his move to Mindshare, MENA, Rao said, “I am excited to take this new role within the Mindshare family. The market has exhibited good growth over the past few years and I look forward to strengthening our position in the MENA region.”

GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas added, “Ravi helped consolidate Mindshare's position in the market over the past few years. He has led the transformation efforts of the agency in the recent past. This has helped Mindshare create cutting edge products for its clients, grow its digital business and retain its leadership position. He has made a significant contribution to our network and the industry at large. We are confident that Ravi will continue to play a stellar role in building the Mindshare network and we wish him well in his new role.”

Mindshare MENA CEO Samir Ayoub said, “We are thrilled to welcome Ravi back to the MENA purple family. Ravi is well respected with a good reputation in our region. With his vast experience, we are confident that Ravi will play a vital role to have more successful stories for Mindshare MENA”.

Rao is also the chairman of the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and has represented Mindshare and GroupM on several industry platforms.

Rao joined Mindshare, South Asia in 2008 and took over as leader for the market in 2012. Under his guidance, Mindshare remains the largest media and marketing agency in India. Rao was earlier a part of JWT Dubai and the Mindshare MENA team during its inception in 1999. He also worked with OMD in the course of his time in Dubai.