The Ad Club today announces the appointment of PG Aditiya, Founder & CCO of Talented, Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO at Burson Group India, and Pavita Puri, Chief Brand & Marketing Officer, The Indian Express Group as Jury Chairs respectively for Digital, PR and Publisher categories.
PG Aditiya has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2026 Powered by The One Club | The One Show in the Digital category.
PG Aditiya , was earlier the Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Webchutney until 2022 and is currently building the Talented Grid.
Talented is an employee-owned independent creative agency, which Aditiya co-founded along with Gautam Reghunath (Dentsu Webchutney’s ex-CEO), The New Thing, Early Partners & Mktgstack.
Talented was started as a response to the advertising industry’s doubts about its own future. Its public handbook, financial structure and internal policies are charting a new relationship between employers and employees – and of course, the effects of these trickle down to the best agency experience for their clients.
No wonder why – apart from building brands like Meta, Google, Britannia, Make My Trip, Tanishq and Urban Company – Talented was also awarded the ‘Best Place to Work’ Globally by Campaign Magazine two years in a row.
Deepshikha Dharmaraj has been appointed Jury Chair in Abby Awards 2026 Powered by The One Club | The One Show in the PR category.
As the CEO for Burson Group India, Deepshika oversees Burson Genesis, GCI Health India, and Hill & Knowlton India
With three decades of rich and diverse experience in public relations and integrated communications, she is one of India’s most respected industry leaders.
Deepshikha provides strategic counsel to the firm’s marquee clients and senior client leaders, serving as a trusted advisor in building and protecting reputation. A champion of creativity and measurement, she is dedicated to conceptualizing impactful campaigns that solve client challenges.
An active leader in India’s public relations industry, Deepshikha is a founding board member of the India chapter of Global Women in Public Relations (GWPR) and has served as President of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) and the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) in 2008.
Her expertise is widely recognized, reflected in her numerous jury roles for prestigious awards including Cannes PR Lions, D&AD Awards, SABRE South Asia Awards, PR Week Awards, Campaign PR Awards India, Fulcrum Awards, Spikes Asia, and IPRCCA, among others.
Deepshikha has received multiple accolades, including PR Agency Head of the Year 2025 (Campaign and Adgully ImageXX), PR Professional of the Year (IPRCCA 2024, 2023, 2019), and CEO of the Year 2023.
Deepshikha is deeply committed to nurturing new talent. She actively mentors the next generation of leaders through programs like WPP Stella and GWPR and regularly engages with students at leading communication institutes.
Pavita Puri has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2026 Powered by The One Club | The One Show in the Publisher category.
Pavita Puri is a transformative brand leader driving sustainable growth, including experience of over15 years in CMO/P&L roles.
Evolving from a brick-and-mortar roof to a digital innovator, she sparked change at The Indian Express Group as Chief Brand and Marketing officer, leading print/digital media icons (Indian Express, Financial Express, Loksatta, Jansatta), with profitable P&L, consumer/advertiser strategies, IP programmes, and social/digital growth.
Pavita has had rich experience in the advertising industry at Rediffusion DY&R and LoweIndia, where she managed blue-chip accounts like Airtel, Maruti, Lufthansa, Revlon, Taj, Nike, and Canon—winning new business while honing agency top management and leadership skills.
Pavita is an expert in insights-driven brand affinity, revenue mapping, cross-functional integration and media optimization.
