Ogilvy’s new Global CEO is Amritsar-born Devika Bulchandani

Less than two years after joining Ogilvy as Global President and CEO of North America, Devika Bulchandani has been elevated as the agency’s Global CEO. “Dev” as she is known in advertising circles, was with McCann for over two decades and during her stint, played a pivotal role in the success of the Mastercard advertising concept into a global business.

At Oglivy, Bulchandani takes over from Andy Main, who after stepping down as Global CEO, will serve as senior advisor till the end of 2022. In her new role, she will be responsible for the agency’s businesses across 131 offices in 93 countries across advertising, public relations, experience, consulting and health.

Ogilvy is a part of WPP and counts Wunderman Thomson, Grey, Mindshare, Wavemaker among the entities that it owns. For 2021, the London-headquartered WPP had revenues in excess of $12 billion.

In a statement, Mark Read, WPP’s CEO said, “Devika is a champion of creativity who brings passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on generating impact to everything she does.” The Indian story continues at Ogilvy with Bulchandani and Piyush Pandey, the agency’s worldwide Chief Creative Officer holding key positions. Ogilvy is known for its creative output across clients and markets.

Bulchandani spent her early life in Amritsar before attending Welham Girls’ School in Dehradun, followed by a degree in English and Psychology at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai before moving to the University of South California for a master's degree in communications. Apart from Mastercard, she has worked on Kraft and Unilever and a significant break was the Fearless Girl campaign in 2017, one that focused on workplace gender diversity.

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