As vice president for Asia and Oceania, Lavanya leads Nissan’s communications efforts across the region covering mature, mass and emerging automotive markets. Reporting to the head of the region, she is responsible for strategic communications planning, knowledge dissemination and outreach to the key audiences that Nissan seeks to influence.
With more than twenty four years of experience in the field across various industries, including automotive, manufacturing, energy, infrastructure and IT, Lavanya has a proven track record in formulating and executing strategic marketing, communications, brand management and CSR plans.
Prior to this role, Lavanya was vice president of communications and CSR for Nissan Motor India. Earlier, she held a number of leadership roles and had been instrumental in establishing and integrating strong communications and marketing functions for global organizations like Eaton Corporation and Lexmark International in India.
Lavanya is a multi-faceted individual who has won two national awards from the Prime Minister of India for her radio documentaries as producer and script writer. She was a co- publisher of a book of stories in translation on women empowerment and has several academic papers to her credit on the language of visual art and cinematic narration.
She also strongly believes in individual social responsibility and volunteers at many NGOs dedicated to eradicating child labor, environmental issues and promoting Indian heritage and culture. Lavanya holds a PhD and MPhil from Osmania University, India, with specific focus on the language of cinema in India and its effectiveness in representing socio-economic issues.