MUMBAI: Lodestar UM CEO Shashi Sinha has taken guard as the new Bombay Ad Club president for 2011-12, replacing Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL) director Dr. Bhaskar Das who occupied the position for two consecutive terms.

Times Television Network‘s CEO Sunil Lulla has been elected vice president.

The other significant positions include Aditya Birla Group - Financial Services CMO Ajay Kakar as the new secretary, while BCCL director Sujoy Ghosh has been made the joint secretary. Mudra Max CEO Pratap Bose is the new treasurer.

Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Sinha said that the priority would be to engage advertisers from across the country.

"We are planning to hold some of our awards functions outside Mumbai. At least, take half the judging process to Delhi and then take it to Bangalore. Goafest was quite controversial, while Emvies doesn‘t really get the clients to participate. On the other hand, Effies gets active participation from clients. So, we will try to use this opportunity to engage more people from outside Mumbai," an elated Sinha added. 
 
Ad Club‘s new managing committee includes Percept‘s Ajay Chandwani, Brandscapes Worldwide‘s Pranesh Misra, BBH India‘s Subhash Kamath, Concept Advertising‘s Vivek Sushanti, Ogilvy India‘s Madhukar Sabnavis, Star India‘s Gayatri Yadav and JWT India‘s Tarun Chauhan.

Non-award properties such as creative workshops suffered in the face of economic crisis and a shift can be expected in the new tenure.

On the team appointment, Sinha said: "It‘s a good mix of old and new members. That will reflect in our work as well. We will continue with the old policies and implement some new ones as we go along."

Moreover, Effies Apac will be a priority as it is going to be held in India this year.