R/GA's New Global CMO Is a Lifelong Social Justice Reformer

Ashish Prashar, R/GA's new global chief marketing officer, brings a variety of experience to the role informed not just by the ad industry but also by his work on political campaigns and justice reform activism. In the role, Prashar will oversee the global marketing function for R/GA, taking responsibility for strategy, branding and corporate communications. He will also sit on R/GA's executive leadership team, reporting to CEO Sean Lyons. He officially joins the agency on March 2, filling a role left by Jess Greenwood's departure for Apple last September. In a statement, Lyons said he connected immediately with Prashar, whom he called "brilliant at finding the stories in the work and in the people." "Our agency, industry and society have shifted tremendously over the past year," he added. "Ash's thoughtful, strategic advocacy and service to others make him an ideal shepherd of our values and our purpose of helping clients design businesses and brands for a more human future." A political activist has a new stage Prashar arrives at R/GA with over 15 years of creative and corporate communications experience. Most recently, he led global communications for Publicis Sapient across the North America, EMEA, MENA and APAC regions. During his career, he has worked on global initiatives for the ACLU, Andela, Foursquare, Klarna and Unicef. Prashar also has a background in politics, having worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, the 2018 midterms for a variety of Democratic candidates and most recently worked to mobilize formerly incarcerated people to vote for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Incarcerated himself at a young age, Prashar is a devoted justice reform activist who has created programs for former inmates, as well as campaigns advocating for bail reform, the end of solitary confinement and the restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated citizens denied participation in the democratic process. During the pandemic, Prashar and wife Mary Rinaldi raised over $20,000 to help formerly incarcerated New Yorkers through the Be a Good Neighbor initiative. Prashar serves on the boards of Exodus Transitional Community, Getting Out and Staying Out NYC, Just Leadership USA, Leap Confronting Conflict and the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice. Prashar cited the agency's culture and alignment of values as a key reason he decided to take on the role. He said that he was impressed by Lyons' willingness to openly discuss a variety of issues, as well as the agency's prioritization of its people, demonstrated by its decision to extend healthcare benefits through the end of 2020 for employees impacted by a round of layoffs at R/GA last April. He also believes that the IPG shop has a meaningful commitment to creating a more diverse and equitable agency. "The ad industry is like every industry in America," Prashar said. "We have a lot of work to do to undo systemic racism." A meaningful approach to DEI R/GA is not an exception to that rule. According to the agency's most recently shared U.S. EEOC diversity data, people of color accounted for 36% of all U.S. talent as of last September. Black employees represent 7.2% of U.S. talent and 4.5% of senior talent. Women comprised 52.9% of U.S. employees, with 44.3% in executive leadership. Prashar said he was convinced that R/GA's approach to addressing DEI issues stood apart from most in the sincerity of its commitment from leadership and across the agency—as well as a commitment to transparency and its philosophy that systemic racism needs to be undone at every level. DEI initiatives are embedded across operations and talent teams to make progress the responsibility of everyone within the organization—work being led by R/GA vp and global executive director of culture and operations Jai Tedeschi. "Along with this work being rooted into operations, R/GA is going to have another executive member who bleeds for this work, is an activist for this work," Prashar said, adding that he was excited to work with Tedeschi as an ambassador for R/GA's brand and values. "The first step toward rooting out discrimination is rooting out white supremacy. The more leaders you have who believe that to the core, [the more] you're going to see that happen." Prashar said he joins R/GA as the ad industry has a unique opportunity to meaningfully impact social change. "For a place like R/GA, this is an opportunity to take a path that has always been part of their DNA," he said, "[which is] about making a more beautiful and human future for people. They already do this for clients–unearth their humanity, find what's good at the core of that business's founding idea and build experiences that will transform society." "I really believe agency work has the potential to transform the world around us," he added. "We sit in the room with decision-makers of businesses and brands that millions of people connect with–people who are demanding action from those businesses and brands on racial justice, climate change and other issues. And RGA will deliver that for them."