Wavemaker India elevates Sairam Ranganathan to chief digital officer

Wavemaker India elevates Sairam Ranganathan to chief digital officer

Sairam's addition to Wavemaker India's ExCo aims to turbocharge digital capabilities.

Sairam Ranganathan

Mumbai: Wavemaker India, the most awarded agency of GroupM, today announced the appointment of Sairam Ranganathan as Chief Digital Officer. In his new role, Sairam or Sai as he is fondly called, will strengthen digital capabilities and lead the newly formed team Wavemaker NorthStar. In his new role, Sai will continue to report to Vishal Jacob (chief transformation officer at Wavemaker India).

As the head of Wavemaker NorthStar, Sai will work with clients to drive business outcomes. Team Wavemaker NorthStar will bring in the right experts across platforms, commerce, analytics & tech to orchestrate data-led solutions that yield business results. In addition, he will also be responsible for accelerating growth in digital services, integrating and aligning digital initiatives across business units for clients.  

Sai has been an integral part of GroupM India since 2004. He has worked across multiple categories which include Telecom, FMCG, Consumer durables, Ecommerce, Retail, Lifestyle, Jewellery, Tourism, Technology, BFSI, Media & Entertainment. In the last few years, Sai has played a national role working with multiple teams to build and strengthen digital capabilities for Wavemaker.

Commenting on Sai’s elevation, Ajay Gupte, CEO  of South Asia said, “At Wavemaker we are constantly evolving and adapting to help our clients grow by enabling better business solutions, build robust data-led experiences and positively provoke growth for them and for us. Sai brings in wealth of expertise and knowledge to deliver innovative customer initiatives across business domains, with a perfect balance of people management skills. I am confident that Sai is best placed to drive the digital-first agenda for us and our partners”.  

“At Wavemaker our emphasis has always been to push the boundaries on our capabilities and provide our clients with an unmatched advantage through our services. In his new role, Sai will consolidate and grow capabilities on digital media and lead a team called Wavemaker NorthStar that will help clients deliver business outcomes through data-driven solutions. Given Sai's passion, resilience, and commitment there could be no better person to lead this team and take our solutions to the next level”, expressed Wavemaker India's chief transformation officer Vishal Jacob.  

A big Star Wars fan, Sai has also co-authored two books on digital marketing in India – The Curious Digital Marketer and The Curious Digital Marketer 2.0.

Talking about his new role, Sairam Ranganathan shared, “My journey at GroupM has been incredibly thrilling and enriching. In these last 20 years, I have grown significantly in my professional as well as personal life. I am grateful to Wavemaker for this exciting opportunity and I look forward to leading Wavemaker NorthStar as I start a new chapter in my growth journey to make Wavemaker an even more desirable partner for our clients.”