Ex-Publicis Hari Krishnan joins Altera Institute as education mentor

New Delhi: Hari Krishnan, Managing Director and Head of Publicis Content, has moved to Altera Institute as an Education Mentor, Brand Communications, for postgraduate scholars.

Altera Institute is a business school based in Cybercity, Gurugram, focused on careers in marketing, e-commerce, growth and product management.

Announcing the move on LinkedIn, Krishnan said his aim is to translate his experience into structured learning for students. “My goal is to codify thirty years of ‘in-the-trenches’ experience into frameworks that will shape the next generation of marketing leaders,” he wrote.

He added that he is not stepping away from industry work. “I’m not stepping away from the craft; I’m deepening it. I will continue to take on fractional consulting assignments, helping brands navigate the intersection of culture, strategy, and emerging technology,” Krishnan said.

Before joining Publicis in September 2022, Krishnan previously ran strategic innovation consultancy CultureDrum, where he worked on content innovation areas such as AR and gaming with media agencies, co-created ‘Virtual Bharat’, and advised startups on brand strategy and storytelling.

Before CultureDrum, he held leadership roles across agencies and networks, including Managing Director at Zenith India, Chief Operating Officer at Cheil Worldwide, Country Head of WPP’s Global Team Blue, and Executive Director at JWT.

He has worked with brands including PepsiCo, Samsung, Ford, and Nestlé and led WPP’s Ford account in India, setting up an integrated, co-located model by bringing together teams from JWT, Mindshare and Wunderman Digital under the Blue Hive unit.

At Cheil, Krishnan was part of an expansion and integration phase, with the agency scaling from 135 people to a 480-strong team and adding capabilities across digital, activation, visual merchandising and retail, besides ATL. He also worked with Lodestar UM to set up a joint Cheil-Lodestar operation.

Krishnan is an Economics graduate from the University.