Shereen Bhan tops IMPACT's 50 Most Influential Women List, 2022

Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBCTV18, Network18 Group, has topped IMPACT’s 50 Most Influential Women in Media, Marketing and Advertising List, 2022. Bhan has bagged the top position for redefining the business news broadcast landscape through shows like ‘India Business Hour’ and ‘Young Turks’.

India Today Group is the Gold Partner and Bobble AI is the Awards Partner for the 10th edition of IMPACT’s 50 Most Influential Women List which is Co-powered by SCIBIDS.

Addressing the audience on the occasion, Bhan said, “It is fabulous to be back here. I have been part of this list for several years and I have always made a point to come back because I enjoy the energy, the connection, I enjoy the fact that there are women celebrating other women’s success and there are men celebrating our success. And I think that really is a testimony to the 10 years that you’ve put this award together. So congratulations to the e4m and the IMPACT team as well.”

She added, “I think the biggest lesson that I have learnt now that I have spent the last 22 years in my job doing what I do, is not to let other people’s opinion define you. Don’t shrink yourself into boxes, don’t shrink yourself into labels. If you have a voice, don’t silence it. Use your voice in whatever possible way that you can. I mean the wonderful women in Iran are teaching us a lesson today that such is the courage that women have, the courage that women have to change the way that we live, to change the world and the way it operates and that is what we must exercise. People are going to judge you and scrutinise you, they are going to talk over you and about you, so it doesn’t matter, go out there and be the best version of yourself."

This year, the list saw a healthy representation of women leaders from across domains. The eminent jury has handpicked 21 new faces and voices that are shaking up the industry right now. The number of women on the list from media companies is 13, which is one less than the 2020 tally. A total of 24 names are from the agency side like creative, media, digital, design domains. The remaining 18 are from the marketing background, with 6 of them being from digital-first businesses. Along with the 50 women achievers on the list, the jury singled out five professionals for ‘Special Mention’.

The list was put together by a jury of most esteemed industry leaders, led by Sam Balsara, Chairman and Founder, Madison World. Other eminent names on the jury this year were Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP Network; Vaishali Banerjee, MD, Platinum Guild International – India; Pradeep Dwivedi, ED & CEO, Eros International Media Ltd; Priya Nair, Global CMO, Beauty & Wellbeing, HUL; Angelo George, CEO, Bisleri; Kavita Nair, Independent Director & Board Member, Bluedart Express; Shefali Chhachhi, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Hearth Ventures; Sunil Lulla, Founder & Chief Evangelist, The Linus Adventures LLP; Rajeev Beotra, Executive Director, HT Media Ltd.; Neeraj Bahl, MD & CEO, BSH Home Appliances; Nitin Gupta, CEO, Xapads Media; Gulshan Verma, CEO, Jio Ads; Gurmit Singh, General Manager, APAC, Quora.

Past toppers of IMPACT’s 50 Most Influential Women List include Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson, India Today Group (2020); Tanya Dubash, Executive Director and Chief Brand Officer, Godrej Industries (2019), Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & Chief Marketing Officer, Parle Agro (2018), Malini Agarwal, Founder & Creative Director, MissMalini Entertainment (2017), Ekta Kapoor, Joint Managing Director and Creative Director, Balaji Telefilms (2016), Kirthiga Reddy, then Managing Director of Facebook India (2015), Rama Bijapurkar, market strategy consultant and acclaimed business author (2014), Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director HT Media Group (2013) and Vinita Bali, then Managing Director of Britannia (2012).

Please find the full list of winners below: