Atul Ahluwalia

Founding Partner

A key proponent of innovation and creativity, Atul has been the brain behind some of the most famous and award-winning public relations campaigns in India. With more than three decades of consulting experience, Atul has designed extensive campaigns that have received wide recognition, including the United Nations Grand Prize for PR Excellence, IPRA Golden World Award, Asia Pacific SABRE Awards, Gold and Silver awards in the Media Lions Category at the Cannes, Government Relations Gold Standard Award by the Public Affairs Asia Forum, Sabre Award for Best Campaign in India Subcontinent, among others. Prior to co-founding First Partners, Atul worked with Weber Shandwick for over two decades and was designated Vice-Chairman of India operations at the time of his departure from the company.

Atul has been the Founding Member of Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI), and Chairman of the Constitutional and Advisory Committee of PRCAI. Atul has been inducted into the Comms News Hall-of-fame and bestowed with IPRCCA Lifetime Achievement Award by Exchange 4 Media in 2023. Earlier, he was also named PR Professional of the Year (Agency) by IPRCCA in 2011. He has also been part of several juries for award programmes organised by Sabre South Asia, IPRCCA, as well as the Global Head of Jury for a category of Stevies Awards.

Dilip Yadav

Founding Partner

In a career spanning over 25 years, Dilip has held senior management positions at global consultancies, has guided business leaders of Fortune 100 companies on communications-related issues, built award-winning public opinion campaigns and helped accelerate startups. Dilip specialises in media, marketing and corporate communications. Public relations campaigns designed and led by him have won coveted global and Indian awards.

Prior to co-founding First Partners, Dilip worked with Weber Shandwick for two decades and was the Managing Director, Client Services India as well as the Managing Director for Creation, India (later rechristened as Current Global) at the time of his departure.

Dilip has been a certified media and crisis management trainer and has coached country leaders at large organisations.

Dilip is an MBA in marketing and also holds a Master's degree in Statistics, a Post Graduate Diploma in Advertising and Public Relations and a Bachelor's degree in Law.

Dilip has consistently featured among the 100 Most Influential Communication Leaders in India shortlisted by Exchange4Media and Reputation Today.

Santanu Gogoi

Founding Partner

Santanu is a seasoned professional with over 22 years of experience in PR and communications. He has spearheaded numerous campaigns that have not only bolstered brand reputations, but also cultivated robust corporate narratives for leading corporates, including Fortune 500 companies. His work has spotlighted critical issues for public discourse and he has deftly managed complex crisis situations for prominent organisations.

Before co-founding First Partners, he spent over 12 years at Weber Shandwick India, where he was Vice-President, Corporate Practice. He has witnessed from close quarters the evolution in the PR and communications realm in India and has been feted for his outstanding contributions, being named one of the top-100 influential gamechangers in 2022.

Currently, Santanu holds the position of 'National Chair, Learning and Thought Leadership' in the Executive Committee of PRCAI (Public Relations Consultants Association of India), the largest PR consultancy industry body in the country. Santanu has also been an integral part of award-winning campaigns at SABRE, IPRCCA and Fulcrum Awards. He holds a Master's Degree in English from Delhi University and resides in Gurugram with his wife and two daughters.

Nitin Yadav

Partner

Nitin has over 18 years of experience in public relations, corporate communications, media relations and crisis management. Earlier, he was General Manager, Corporate Communications at PepsiCo India, where he was responsible for driving the organisation’s communications agenda. At PepsiCo India, Nitin worked on brand communications and corporate reputation programmes, including Pepsi IPL, new positioning announcement of Pepsi and 7UP, PepsiCo India’s silver jubilee and India business re-organisation and sustainability initiatives. He has also handled multiple visits of PepsiCo’s global leadership team. Nitin holds a Master’s in Business Management and a Commerce degree from Delhi University.

Richa Gopal S

Partner

Richa has over 19 years of experience in various verticals of communications. During this period, she has held diverse communications roles in advertising, corporate communications and public advocacy, covering areas like enterprise, technology, aviation, healthcare, energy among others. Richa's deep understanding of the national economic scenario, business, cultural and media environment enables her to drive strategic initiatives for her clients and successfully engage with key stakeholders. She has also led many impactful integrated communications and conducted training programmes for big corporate entities.

Param Shobhit

Principal Group Consultant

Param is the digital community management lead for First Partners and is responsible for news-based digital marketing initiatives. Param has more than 13 years of experience in communications, PR, social media and digital marketing, influencer engagement and brand building and brand/corporate positioning. His expertise lies in planning and executing large integrated campaigns with the help of varied tools like traditional PR, digital PR, online reputation management, influencer engagement, community management, content writing and content marketing, among others.

Vidushi Khera

Principal Group Consultant

A seasoned communication professional with over 15 years of experience in public relations, Vidushi has worked at several reputed organisations like Penguin Random House India, Teamwork Arts, Genesis BCW (formerly Genesis Burson-Marsteller) and MSL Group. She brings with her a blend of scientific communication planning, creative sensibilities and a passion for deep understanding of sectors. Her expertise areas include communication planning and evaluation, content design, media relationship management and crisis management. During her journey in the profession, she has worked on prestigious brands such as PepsiCo, KFC, BBC Entertainment, Domino's, Rolex, Timex and the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Soumalya Santikari

Content Editor, Editors' Street

As part of Editors' Street, Soumalya is responsible for developing content which is contextualised into the narratives designed for clients. With over a decade’s experience in media, Soumalya brings a unique external perspective which helps brands shape narratives from a different prism. Soumalya has worked at leading media houses like Times Internet, Network18, TV9 Network, India Today Group and The New Indian Express. Having started off as a sports scribe, Soumalya made the sobering transition to business journalism in 2014 when he joined The Economic Times Digital team. Post-stints at ET and Moneycontrol, Soumalya got a rare chance to be a founding team member of two unique media products - Money9 and News9 Plus. Soumalya is also one of the few journalists to have worked in print, digital and visual mediums.