Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Niraj Ruparel, Deepshikha Dharmaraj, Chandani Samdaria and Praful Akali appointed as jury chairs for the ABBY Awards 2025 powered by One Show
The Ad Club today announces the appointment of Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Business professional and Corporate leader; Niraj Ruparel, Creative Tech Lead at WPP & GroupM, India; Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO, Burson Group India; Chandani Samdaria Executive Creative Director, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi; and Praful Akali, Founder & Managing Director, Medulla Communications as jury chairs respectively for Broadcaster, Technology, Public Relations, Green Abby and Health categories.
Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Business professional and Corporate leader has been appointed Jury Chair in the Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Broadcaster Category.
Nina has over 3 decades of experience in Media, FMCG, Services, Marketing and Advertising. After completing her MBA from Sydenham Institute of Management, Nina started her journey in advertising with the memorable launch of Surf Excel at Lintas. She moved on to Colgate to look after their Cibaca toothbrush portfolio followed by her shift to BPL Cellular to work on its customer acquisition strategy. She started her stint in the media industry with Sony Entertainment Television. In her last role, Nina was with Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. as their Senior Executive Vice President & Head – Hindi & Kids’ TV Network.
Nina has also been a part of the “FICCI Women on Corporate Boards” program. She has also been named to the list of Impact’s “50 Most influential Women in Indian Media, Marketing and Advertising” for 9 times over the years. Nina chairs the women empowerment committee at the International Advertising Association (IAA) and drives IAA Voice of Change, a crucial initiative for gender representation in all forms and formats of content.
Niraj Ruparel, Creative Tech Lead at WPP & GroupM, India has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Technology Category.
At the helm of creative technology across WPP and GroupM India, Niraj is known for building what’s next—transformative work that spans voice AI for rural India, teleportation cafés, and AI-powered inclusion tools for underserved communities. His mission is to make technology intuitive, inspiring, and inclusive—not just for the digitally elite, but for the 1.4 billion stories that make up Bharat.
Niraj and his teams at WPP in India are globally awarded innovators, with multiple Cannes Lions, Cannes Titanium, Spikes Asia, Kyoorius and Effies and has served as a jury member at top forums. He is also a respected evangelist of creative technology, known for sparking cross-agency collaborations and building industry-first solutions that scale.
Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO, Burson Group India has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Public Relations Category.
With three decades of rich and diverse experience in public relations and integrated communications, Deepshikha is one of the most respected leaders in the industry in India. Till recently, the CEO of BCW India Group, she now takes over as Chief Executive Officer, Burson Group India, which includes Burson Genesis, GCI Health India and Hill & Knowlton India.
Deepshikha is a founding board member of the India chapter of the Global Women in Public Relations (GWPR). She serves as the Managing Committee member and President of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). Deepshikha also served as President of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) in 2008. Passionate about bringing creative ideas and measurement into communications, she has been a juror for numerous prestigious award shows, including Cannes PR Lions, D&AD Awards, amongst others.
Chandani Samdaria Executive Creative Director, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Green AbbyCategory.
With over 15 years of experience in the creative industry, Chandani Samdaria has worked on campaigns for global brands such as Vicks, Head & Shoulders, Nivea, Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Amazon Audible, and more with a focus on leveraging cultural insights to create powerful ideas.
She has served as a jury member for prestigious platforms including the One Show for the Branded Entertainment category, Portfolio Evening by D&AD and Indian Creative Women, and as Jury Chair for Abby Awards. Chandani is a mentor for the One Show Young Ones Program where she is currently mentoring young talent.
Her work has earned multiple accolades, including a Gold at Abby Awards, a Silver at Clio, and a Silver at the Effies for Vicks. A National Gold Medalist in Figure and Artistic Skating, Chandani has multi-faceted talents.
Praful Akali, Founder & Managing Director, Medulla Communications has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Health Category.
Praful is one of the most awarded healthcare creatives in the world today. He founded Medulla in 2008, and under his leadership, the agency became the Healthcare Advertising Agency of The Year at Cannes Lions in 2016.
Praful’s early career was spent on the client side after completing his management studies at IIM Lucknow. He managed Pfizer’s Consumer Healthcare portfolio in India, an experience that allows him to blend creativity with effectiveness.
Two campaigns that he poured his heart into were Last Laugh and Last Words. In 2016, the Last Words campaign was featured in the Gunn Report as one of just 15 global campaigns to win both a gold at the Lions and an effectiveness award at the Effies. The agency repeated this accomplishment in 2017 with Last Laugh, which won a Grand Prix at Clio and two Golds at the APAC Effies. Praful has served on juries at prestigious award shows like Cannes Lions, LIA, and Clio, amongst others.
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