Maneesha Khanna, Senior Director and Global GCC Media Hubs Lead for Strategy & Transformation at PepsiCo, has resigned after 13 years. Khanna concluded her tenure in May 2026, leaving behind an integrated global media services network that spans major programmatic pipelines across the United States, India, Mexico, Poland, and Egypt.
NEW DELHI, India — Maneesha Khanna, Senior Director and Global Global Capability Center (GCC) Media Hubs Lead for Strategy & Transformation at multinational food and beverage giant PepsiCo, has officially stepped down from her corporate role. The high-profile resignation, announced in mid-June 2026, concludes Khanna’s highly impactful 13-year tenure with the purchase-market conglomerate. Her departure marks a critical structural inflection point for the enterprise as it continues to engineer and consolidate its international programmatic buying, consumer activations, and data governance frameworks.
Strategic Exit: End of a Transformative Era in Media Marketing
Khanna's exit from the consumer packaged goods corporation concludes more than a decade of strategic positioning across critical domestic and global consumer metrics. Having initially joined PepsiCo in June 2013 as Associate Director for Consumer Engagement & Digital Marketing in India, her responsibilities scaled systematically across multiple geographical corridors, including major hubs like New York, Dallas, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Hyderabad.
Before ascending to her final executive role as the Strategy & Transformation lead for global media hubs, Khanna operated as the Marketing Director for Audience Strategy & Consumer Data in North America. Industry trackers, including media registry Exchange4media, note that her steady corporate ascension directly mirrored PepsiCo's aggressive shift away from conventional broadcast placements toward precision, data-led programmatic architecture.
The Programmatic Media Pivot: Khanna's leadership over the past decade directly catalyzed the transition of global marketing budgets toward localized, automated consumer targeting systems.
This functional shift has positioned PepsiCo’s internal digital ecosystem as a significant benchmark for competing consumer brands globally, operating under regulatory principles structured by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Building a Borderless Media Organization
During her final years with the global beverage enterprise, Khanna spearheaded an ambitious operational blueprint aimed at erecting standalone global media service entities across highly distinct consumer zones. Under her oversight, these standardized hubs successfully managed active corporate accounts and media pipelines in regional divisions spanning Poland, the United States, Mexico, Egypt, and India.
The core responsibilities processed through these centralized networks included:
Programmatic Buying Infrastructure: Automating high-volume ad placements across digital properties to maximize localized conversion rates.
Direct Consumer Activations: Deploying real-time regional audience strategies to deepen direct brand interaction.
Media Operations & Governance: Enforcing global brand safety guidelines and cross-market corporate accounting standards.
Official Sources Section
The details, historical background, and quotes regarding this leadership transition have been collected directly from public corporate updates logged on the official professional registry networks by Khanna, alongside industry tracking statements released via BestMediaInfo Bureau and formal personnel filings acknowledged by marketing agency tracking bodies.
Quote Section
"At the end of May 2026, I completed 13 incredible years at PepsiCo and 25 years of being a media marketer. I'm very proud of this journey spanning media management roles across some of the most loved global brands while living in Mumbai, Delhi, Dallas, Hyderabad, and New York," Maneesha Khanna stated in an official reflection regarding her departure.
"I've been enriched by beautiful minds and inspiring leaders who mentored me, challenged me, trusted me, and gave me the space to build big things. Over the last few years, I've had the privilege of building an ambitious global media services organisation for PepsiCo," she added, stating that she is now "choosing to step out of PepsiCo and do something wildly different for a while."
Why It Matters
For FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) market investors, a high-level transition inside PepsiCo's marketing engine introduces immediate questions regarding continuity in automated ad efficiency and global data pipeline strategies. For consumers and regional brand teams, Khanna's departure leaves a vacancy at the helm of a massive internal agency framework that dictates exactly how, where, and when digital advertising messages are customized across multi-market applications. The shift emphasizes a broader industry trend where elite marketing innovators are increasingly transitioning toward independent technical vectors or specialized strategic consultancies.
Key Facts at a Glance
Thirteen-Year Tenure Closes: Senior Director Maneesha Khanna officially concluded her leadership lifecycle at PepsiCo at the close of May 2026.
Quarter-Century Milestone: The resignation marks a collective 25-year career milestone within the broader international media marketing sector for the outbound executive.
Global Footprint Established: Khanna successfully scaled internal media capability hubs across major international boundaries, including Poland, Egypt, Mexico, India, and the United States.
Nokia and Lodestar Lineage: Prior to her definitive tenure with PepsiCo, Khanna established her industry profile leading media structures for tech brand Nokia and agency network Lodestar UM.
FAQ Section
1. What was Maneesha Khanna's final role at PepsiCo before stepping down?
Khanna served as the Senior Director & PepsiCo Global GCC Media Hubs Lead for Strategy & Transformation, where she managed internal agency operations across multiple international territories.
2. Which global markets were developed under Khanna’s recent media capability framework?
Her global media services team successfully scaled programmatic, governance, and consumer activation capabilities across five core hubs: Poland, the United States, Mexico, Egypt, and India.
3. Has PepsiCo formally named an immediate successor for the Global Media Hubs portfolio?
According to preliminary industry corporate briefings, the enterprise has not publicly confirmed an immediate structural replacement to assume Khanna's exact cross-border transformation seat.
Source: Media personnel archives compiled by Exchange4media, corporate leadership dossiers monitored via BestMediaInfo, and public professional transformation statements distributed by Maneesha Khanna.
