Sam Balsara is the founder, chairman and managing director of Madison World and Madison Communications.

Early years

Balsara was born in Balsar, now called

Valsad Valsad (Pronunciation: �alsɑɖ, historically known as Bulsar, is a town and a municipality in Valsad district of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the district headquarters of Valsad district. Valsad is located north of Vapi and shares bor ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. His father was a forest contractor, and due to his work the family later moved to

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. He studied at

Bishop Cotton Boys' School Bishop Cotton Boys' School is an all-boys school for boarders and day scholars in Bengaluru, India, founded in the memory of Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta. The school is bordered by Residency Road, St Mark's Road, L ...

, Bangalore before graduating from St. Joseph College, Bangalore. He completed his MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai in 1970. He worked as a marketing executive at Sarabhais and

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

. Later, he switched to advertising, working with Hindustan Thompson Associates (the current J Walter Thompson).

Madison

Balsara started the advertising agency Madison on 21 March 1988.

Association

Balsara was president of the Advertising Club Bombay (1989-1992), chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (2000-1), president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (2002-4), chairman of Triple A (Advertising Agencies Association of India) Awards, member of the Board of Governors of the Advertising Standards Council of India.

Awards and recognition

* Media Service Person of the Year 2004 at the Dainik Bhaskar Indian Marketing Awards 2004 * Sam Balsara in Srijon Samman 2012

Ranked 5th most influential person in the Indian Advertising Industry by Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner 2005. * Ranked 50 most powerful people in Indian Marketing, Advertising and Media Business by ''Pitch'' magazine * Ranked 4th most powerful person in Indian advertising by ''Mid-Day'' in June 2004 * Kolkata Ad Club Hall of Fame * AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award for 2009 *Srijon Samman Award 2012 by

Sangbad Pratidin Sangbad Pratidin () is a daily Indian Bengali language, Bengali newspaper simultaneously published from Kolkata, Barjora and Siliguri. It was founded by Swapan Sadhan Bose, on 9 August 1992. The Editor-in-Chief is Srinjoy Bose. Content Beside ...

Family

Balsara and his wife Homie have two daughters, Tanya and Lara. Balsara's elder daughter Tanya is visually handicapped and runs a small computer institute and teaches similarly visually impaired people. Lara joined Balsara's business as director, business development, after completing a master's degree in marketing from

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

. Lara is married to Kaizad Vajifdar, a pilot with

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balsara, Sam Living people Indian advertising people Businesspeople from Mumbai Year of birth missing (living people)