Umesh Shrikhande is CEO of Contract Advertising

Contract Advertising has appointed Umesh Shrikhande as its CEO. This appointment follows Jagdip Bakshi moving into a global role at JWT as its global business director to look after the Unilever brands and the appointment of Ravi Deshpande as chairman and chief creative officer.

Shrikhande has worked closely with divisions at Contract in the areas of design, direct and digital to enhance traditional advertising. He has worked on the planning and implementation of brand strategies for clients such as HSBC, Cadbury, Asian Paints, Shopper's Stop, Philips, VIP,  Bajaj Auto, BBC World, Aegon-Religare, Tata Indicom, Disney, Zoom, DNA and Grasim to name a few.

Michael Maedel, President, JWT said "Umesh is respected for his unrelenting focus on creating a humane and value based organizational culture at Contract, and it is clear that his effort has contributed significantly to the recent successes of the agency."

"There is a shared history and commonality of purpose between Ravi and Umesh. Umesh has a wealth of intellectual capability and a very good understanding of people development. He is eminently placed to facilitate Contract's vision," said Bakshi.

Deshpande said, "I couldn't have found a better partner to take the agency to the next level. There are few people in the industry today who can match his sound strategic sense and openness to possibilities in creativity."