Harshu Deshpande - Publicis Sapient Australia
Publicis Sapient has appointed Harshu Deshpande to the newly created role of VP, product and engineering lead for Australia, as the company sharpens its focus on AI-driven transformation.
Deshpande will be based in Melbourne and lead multidisciplinary teams delivering large-scale, agile transformation programs.
He will oversee the use of proprietary platforms, including Sapient Slingshot and Bodhi, to accelerate technology implementation and business outcomes.
Angela Robinson, country managing director, Publicis Sapient Australia, welcomed Deshpande’s appointment.
“His deep expertise and innovative mindset align perfectly with our commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions for clients,” Robinson said.
“At a time when businesses are actively seeking fresh perspectives and transformative partnerships, Harshu's appointment underscores our continued ability to attract top talent, enabling us to better serve our clients as they navigate this exciting and rapidly evolving AI-powered world,” she said.
Deshpande joins following the recent appointment of Gavin Seewooruttun as VP, data and AI lead.
Together, the two roles are designed to bolster the firm’s capabilities in engineering and AI delivery across the region.
“I'm incredibly excited to join Publicis Sapient at a pivotal moment,” Deshpande said.
“AI is fundamentally reshaping engineering and the value clients are looking for, and with our proprietary AI platforms and SPEED capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to accelerate legacy modernisation, scale AI implementations and deliver end-to-end business transformation. I look forward to unlocking significant value and driving innovation alongside this talented team.”
Deshpande was most recently Field CTO and Advisor for Digital Natives at Google, where he supported high-growth Australian startups. He previously led Slalom Build in APAC, building a team of over 150 engineers, designers and product leads across Australia and Japan.
Earlier in his career, Deshpande held senior roles at Accenture over a 15-year period, focused on cloud adoption and large-scale application transformations.
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