India — Madison Media, a unit of Madison World, has appointed three senior professionals to its North and East operations, expanding leadership across digital and integrated media functions.
Vishal Kumar has joined the company as vice president – digital business, North & East. In this role, he will lead the region’s digital growth initiatives and work with Vivek Das, chief digital officer, Madison Media, and Mimi Deb, COO, Madison Media Plus.
Kumar returns to Madison Media with more than 18 years of experience across marketing, media, and digital transformation. He also spent eight and a half years with GroupM/WPP, most recently leading the Digital Practice for Wavemaker North. He most recently founded LeapX.ai, a NASSCOM-awarded start-up focused on AI agents for paid digital advertising.
The company has also strengthened its North and East leadership team with two additional appointments.
On the other hand, Ambica Chaudhary has been appointed deputy general manager – integrated media. She brings more than 15 years of experience from global agency networks, including Starcom (Publicis Groupe), Wavemaker (WPP), and PHD, Omnicom Media Group. Her experience includes leading integrated media planning for brands across consumer packaged goods, smartphones, luxury fashion, mobility, and life sciences, as well as managing Unilever’s media mandate in the North American market.
Meanwhile, Akanksha Panwar joins as deputy general manager – digital business. She has over 15 years of experience spanning software engineering, IT, and digital advertising. Panwar also spent the past six years with WPP Media, working on major accounts, and has previously held digital leadership roles at Dentsu Media.
Her work includes full-funnel media strategies across categories such as consumer goods, electronics, fashion, and health insurance.
Commenting on his appointment, Vishal Kumar said, “It feels great to return to Madison at a time when the organisation is reimagining the future of advertising & media through Madison 3.0. Having spent the last few years building LeapX.ai at the intersection of AI, data, and performance marketing, I’m excited to bring those learnings back to scale digital growth and build future-ready tech and data capabilities for the North and East markets”.
Mimi Deb, COO, Madison Media North & East, said, “As we strengthen our North & East leadership under Madison 3.0, Vishal will play a pivotal role with his deep expertise in data and technology. Akanksha & Ambica will work closely with Vishal. Akanksha brings with her diverse category experience and digital depth.”
Mimi added, “For Ambica, it is homecoming after an exhaustive international exposure in managing global brands. Together, this leadership trio will act as the growth of architects for the North and East branches of Madison. This is just the beginning as we move towards strengthening our team aligned with Madison 3.0”.
Meanwhile, Vivek Das, chief digital officer, Madison Media, added, “Vishal, Ambica & Akanksha’s appointments are deliberate Madison 3.0 bets on digital first growth in our North and East markets. Vishal’s mix of platform scale, AI entrepreneurship at LeapX.ai, and deep agency craft makes him the growth architect we need for this phase.
Vivek also shared how the recent appointments could help translate their AI-powered stack into sharper market choice, stronger systems, and tighter brand commer integration as thei begin to roll out GPS, MbrAIn, and Catalyst OS.
Vivek continued, “Ambica strengthens our integrated media leadership with deep cross-category and global agency experience, helping us deliver sharper, client-centric solutions. Akanksha brings strong, full-funnel digital depth and innovation-led execution to accelerate solution-led, integrated outcomes. Together, this leadership bench significantly elevates our North & East growth agenda.”
Madison Media is one of India’s largest homegrown communication agencies, providing media planning and buying services to clients across sectors, including paints, automotive, consumer goods, healthcare, and retail.
![[Campaign] Happy Kicks, Happy Kids](https://marketech-apac.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Campaign-Happy-Kicks-Happy-Kids-1.jpg)