Global advertising and public relations agency Ogilvy has named India-born Devika Bulchandani as its Global Chief Executive Officer.

Ms Bulchandani, who has been serving as Global President and CEO of Ogilvy North America, succeeds Andy Main who is stepping down as Global CEO and will serve as a Senior Advisor until the end of the year, the company said in a statement.

In her new role she will be responsible for all aspects of the creative network’s business across 131 offices in 93 countries and spanning its advertising, public relations, experience, consulting, and health units, it added.
Ogilvy is part of global leading marketing and communications group, WPP.

She will also join WPP’s Executive Committee as she takes on her new role, the company said.

“Devika is a champion of creativity who brings passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on generating impact to everything she does,” WPP CEO Mark Read said.

Her love for the industry, deep understanding of clients’ needs, and track record of delivering growth for agencies and brands, make her the perfect choice to lead Ogilvy to even greater success, he added.

Amritsar-born Bulchandani, who spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles including President of McCann North America, is the latest in a slew of Indian-origin executives taking leadership role in global multinationals in varied fields.

Last week coffee giant Starbucks appointed Laxman Narasimhan as its chief executive.

The list includes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Twitter head Parag Agrawal, Leena Nair from Chanel and Arvind Krishna -CEO IBM Group.

Popularly known as Dev in the industry, Bulchandani’s “proudest achievements have occurred at the intersection of the social causes she champions and brand-building efforts on behalf of clients”.

She was the driving force behind Mastercard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign as well as “True Name,” a feature launched in 2019 that empowers transgender and non-binary people to display their chosen name on their Mastercard, the statement said.

She also helped launch “Fearless Girl,” a symbol of women’s equality, a campaign that became one of the most awarded campaigns in the history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, it added.

She has done her masters from University of Southern California.

An Indian American cardiologist, Dr. Tara Narula, has joined CNN’s Health, Medical and Wellness team. According to an announcement by the news channel, Narula will report across different CNN platforms and is based in New York.

She is moving from CBS News where she was the senior medical correspondent and reported for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms such as CBS Mornings, the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell, CBS Saturday Morning, CBS Sunday Morning and CBS Streaming Network.

As a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), Narula also serves as a national spokesperson for the American Heart Association and the AHA’s Go Red for Women initiative. She is a recipient of the 2019 WomenHeart Nanette Wenger Award for Media and the Super Doctors Award for NYC 2014-2022.

Having completed her residency in internal medicine at Harvard University/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Narula completed her fellowship training in cardiology at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, is also another Indian American doctor who is a neurosurgeon and also serves as the Associate Chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

Indian-American Vedant Patel created history by becoming the first Indian-American to hold the daily US State Department briefing. Vedant Patel is the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State.

Here are 5 points on Indian-American Vedant Patel:

1. Born in Gujarat, Vedant Patel (33) graduated from the University of California, Riverside.

2. Vedant Patel served as an Assistant Press Secretary and Spokesperson for President Biden in The White House.

3. Vedant Patel earlier served as the spokesperson on the Presidential Inaugural Committee and held communications positions on the Biden Campaign.

4. Vedant Patel had also worked as Communications Director to Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Communications Director to Congressman Mike Honda.

5. With State Department Spokesperson Ned Price on vacation, Vedant Patel made his debut at the briefing room in the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

On September 15, Masalawala will open its doors as one of New York City’s most anticipated restaurants this year. And when you eat there, you can also shop for the ingredients.

Chef and co-owner Chintan Pandya will serve foods from Kolkata, along with his take on under-the-radar specialties from across India. On the shelves that line one wall of the restaurant, in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, will be spices and other products from small producers.

They’ll be freshly packaged, top-quality items in small amounts, so ingredients such as cinnamon and coriander seed don’t stay sitting around in home pantries well past their prime.

“In the ’70s and ’80s in India, that’s what it was like: Small merchants would measure things out and hand it over to you,” says Roni Mazumdar, co-founder with Pandya of the restaurant group Unapologetic Foods.

In the past two years, the pair have opened some of the city’s most dynamic spots, including the high-volume, flavor-packed restaurant Dhamaka on the Lower East Side, which made slow-roasted Rajasthani rabbit the most coveted dish in town. Their most recent spot, the fried chicken sandwich storefront Rowdy Rooster in the East Village, has set the city’s collective mouth on fire.

With Masalawala, Unapologetic Foods is making its first foray into packaged goods and food products, which the pair have seen demand for and plan to expand in the future. “There’s room for this concept in every neighborhood in New York, and beyond that,” Mazumdar says.

Masalawala, which means “spice merchant,” is a reboot of a restaurant on the Lower East Side that closed last year when its lease expired after a decade-long run. A few dishes from its early menu will be revived, such as beetroot and banana flower chop.

Other dishes Pandya will serve include daab chingri, a Bengali prawn curry that’s cooked-then served-in a tender young coconut. He’ll also offer a few chicken dishes, such as Kashmiri-style yakhni pulao, a pilaf made with long-grain basmati rice that’s cooked in a stock infused with fennel, ginger, and garlic.

Also on the menu will be saoji chicken, a fiercely spicy dish from the Vidarbha region in central India, is a meat-based cuisine that the chef has become interested in. Mazumdar’s father, Satyen, will be the manager.

To start, the products at Masalawala will all be shelf-stable. In the future, the pair plan to sell some prepared foods including Pandya’s exceptional paneer, served at Dhamaka. They’re sourcing products from spice importers Diaspora Co. and Burlap & Barrel, as well as chocolates from the vegan bar makers (and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. alum) Elements Truffles.

Opposite the groceries is a white brick wall adorned with a bold, colorful mural of the Hindi word for “spice.” The full-service, full-bar space seats 30 indoors and about 30 in the backyard. It will be open throughout the day, from about 11 am to 11 pm.

Whether or not it becomes the Eataly of the South Asian food world, Mazumdar sees Masalawala as a chance to highlight entrepreneurs who represent the region, and to expand the community that they represent so strongly.

“It will be an all-day experience,” he says. “You can come and shop or eat.”

“Or both,” replies Pandya.