MUMBAI: RK Swamy BBDO's independent media arm Media Direction has roped in veteran media and market research professional Praveen Tripathi as its CEO. Tripathi, who is currently CEO Hansa Consulting Division, will however not relinquish his position at Hansa.

Tripathi replaces Sandip Tarkas, who is slated to join Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises (ADAE) as head of media. As per information available with Indiantelevision.com, Tarkas will be heading media across ADAE's Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Capital and Reliance Energy.

Media Direction's PRP Nair will continue in his role as group advisor.

It is pertinent to note here that the Hansa Brand falls under R K Swamy BBDO and comprises a range of services under Hansa Research, Hansa MedCell, Hansa Outsell, Hansa Consultancy, Hansa Events & Exhibitions, Hansa Retail Identity, Hansa InfoSource and Hansa LoginAds.

Commenting on the development, RK Swamy BBDO CEO Srinivasan Swamy said, "We have been looking for a method to combine our immense strategic consulting services with our media offering. Bringing the two services under a common leadership is a logical step that will bring many benefits to our clients. We also believe that this will mean a better utilisation of our human resources, giving our people a lot more newer opportunities for career development. We are very excited with this step as it can potentially unleash a lot of energy."