Who Is India-born Devika 'Dev' Bulchandani – the New Global CEO of Ogilvy?

Before working at Ogilvy, she spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles.

Devika 'Dev' Bulchandani.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency, Ogilvy, named India-born Devika Bulchandani, popularly known as 'Dev,' as its Global Chief Executive Officer on Friday, 9 September.

"Devika is a champion of creativity who brings passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on generating impact to everything she does," Mark Read, CEO of WPP, the global leading marketing and communications group of which Ogilvy is a part, stated.

Bulchandani was born to a Punjabi family and raised in Amritsar. She has three siblings.

She went to Welham Girls' School in Dehradun, after which she did her bachelor's English and Psychology at St Xavier’s in Mumbai. She then went on to do her master’s in Communications at the University of Southern California in 1991.

She started her advertising career in 1995. In 1997, she started working for McCann’s strategy department, a company which she says has a "beautiful soul."

In a 2021 interview, talking about her two bosses at McCann, she told Vogue, "They were my wings. I always say there were two white men who made me who I am, because the last seven years were critical. If I had not been moved out of strategy, I would never have been where I am today."

She spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles, including President of McCann North America.

Bulchandani was the driving force behind Mastercard's 'Priceless' campaign. She also majorly contributed to the 'True Name' campaign, a 2019 feature that empowers transgender and non-binary people to show their chosen name on their Mastercard.

At Ogilvy, she has helped the company win new business with brands including Absolut, Enterprise Holdings, World of Hyatt, TD Bank, and Audi of America, among many others.

Bulchandani also played an important role in WPP being named as Coca-Cola's global marketing network partner.

According to a company statement, WPP, for the first time in six years, earned the position of ‘Network of the Year’ at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

She is married and has two children, a 23-year-old son Arhaan, and a 17-year-old daughter Anya.