dentsu hires chief equity officer for Asia Pacific

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Dentsu international has appointed Rashmi Vikram (pictured) as chief equity officer in Asia Pacific to oversee dentsu's diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. Vikram will report to Ashish Bhasin, CEO of dentsu International Asia Pacific and Kinch Ong, regional human resource director, Asia Pacific.

Vikram was previously from Microsoft, where she was group diversity and inclusivity practice lead. She was responsible for delivering success by making inclusion a habit, with the aim of creating inclusive products and services for Microsoft’s customers. Prior to Microsoft, Vikram was country head for India at Community Business, an NGO that champions inclusive business practices in Asia. Her other roles have included diversity and inclusion specialist at Thomson Reuters.

According to dentsu, its global executive team is committed to hiring chief equity officers in each of its three regions - Asia Pacific, Americas and Europe, Middle East and Africa. This is part of dentsu international’s mission to create sustainable value for all. Vikram joins Christina Pyle, chief equity officer, Americas and recently appointed Pauline Miller, chief equity officer, EMEA. The agency added that the appointments demonstrate dentsu’s commitment to making long-term sustainable change within its business and in society.

Separately, dentsu said on its website that it is committed to long-term sustainable change in society and creating a culture of fairness, equity and equality for all. It added that it has a clear set of global principles that govern how it operates as a business, with accountability to drive concrete action and tangible change.

Bhasin said dentsu seeks out diverse perspectives, celebrates difference and empowers everyone to bring their most authentic self to work. “We encourage our leaders to build diverse teams, teams with a healthy, vibrant culture. A culture that enables every employee to do great work, build a phenomenal career and know they belong,” he added.

Ong said that with Vikram’s solid track record in the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) space, she will ensure that DEI is interwoven into the fabric of the organisation, fostering an even richer culture and experience for our people, clients and partners. “Along with our colleagues in the region, I look forward to working with her to create and communicate the future state vision of DEI and roll out detailed plans of long and short-term initiatives,” Ong concluded.

Vikram’s appointment follows dentsu’s recent slew of hires across CXM, creative and media service lines in Singapore. Similarly, the Malaysian branch also took to hiring big industry names such as Hemanth Jayaraman and Asha Nair to strengthen its positioning. Meanwhile, on the new business front, dentsu has also bagged several new accounts this year including Singaporean property portal 99 Group, AIA Malaysia and Resorts World Genting.