A commerce graduate from Sydenham, Sunita Bangard did her Masters in Management Studies from Mumbai University and went on to do an Executive Development program at INSEAD (France). She has had an enriching and exciting marketing experience of over 30 years across “A” list brands and organisations namely Colgate Palmolive, L’Oreal, Unilever, Godrej, Lintas Advertising, and currently at Aditya Birla Group for over 12 years.
She has held marketing positions in various capacities both strategic and operational, looking after not only Brand Equity but also P&L responsibilities. While she has worked across countries in large organizations as Regional Marketing Manager –Sunsilk at Unilever for South and Southeast Asia, she has also had the experience of a start-up with L’Oreal as the Country Marketing Head at L’Oreal India.
After 20 years in FMCG, in 2011 Sunita shifted gears and moved to a completely different and dynamic Industry – Telecom as President Marketing . At Idea, Sunita was instrumental in shaping the brand strategy keeping the volatility of the market in mind. She worked on key transformation projects & executed several digital first initiatives at Idea - building a world-class Digital Customer Experience and other Customer Centricity initiatives by the Aditya Birla Group. Developing key insights to manage both the rural and digital consumer and deliver the Brand’s innate character through endearing and engaging communication enabled Brand Idea under her leadership to be among the most loved and preferred Brands in the Telecom Sector in India.
She has been part of the core team that worked on India’s largest merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular Ltd in 2018 and then worked on the launch of the unified brand Vi in 2020.
Recently moved to the Corporate Centre (Aditya Birla Management Corp Pvt Ltd), she looks after all Customer Centricity initiatives and Brand Development work across all Brands of the Group. Working closely with the Chairman’s office also is involved in new business development and is on the Board of a couple of businesses in Fashion and Lifestyle. Her mandate is to make ABG a strong Marketing Organisation, build and manage brands across the group and make them more consumer-centric
On the personal front, as well she has been recognized at many industry forums – She has been 4 times in “Impact’s Top 50 Most Influential Women" List twice, and twice in the Top 10, nominated as “The Marketer of the Year, Mobile Services” by IAA Leadership Awards, featured in the Top 100 Most Influential Marketing Leaders by World Marketing Congress (3 years in a row) and in the Adobe Content100, the recognition list of top 100 Brand and Content custodians in India.