Pawan Kumar Marella joins Max Healthcare as Chief Experience and Brand Officer
CE DESK 
Pawan Kumar Marella has joined Max Healthcare as Senior Director and Chief Experience and Brand Officer, marking a significant leadership hire as the hospital chain looks to sharpen its brand and patient experience agenda.
Marella moves to healthcare after a 23-year career at Unilever, where he held a range of senior marketing and customer experience roles across FMCG, beauty & wellbeing, and personal care. Most recently, he served as VP – Marketing & Customer Experience at Unilever, and earlier as VP – Marketing for South Asia in the Beauty & Wellbeing portfolio, overseeing brands such as Dove, Lakmé, Pond’s, Vaseline, TRESemmé, Sunsilk and Lifebuoy.
His Unilever journey also includes stints as Global Digital Marketing Leader for Beauty & Personal Care, where he led digital transformation, e-commerce and data-driven marketing initiatives, and Global Brand Director for Lifebuoy, driving purpose-led campaigns around hygiene and health. He has worked across India, Singapore and global roles, building experience in brand strategy, consumer insights, digital marketing, e-commerce, customer experience and organisational transformation.
At Max Healthcare, Marella will lead the brand, marketing and patient experience functions, working to integrate brand strategy with on-ground customer journeys across hospitals, clinics and digital touchpoints. His mandate is expected to cover brand positioning, communications, digital marketing, patient experience design, feedback systems and service innovation, as Max looks to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive private hospital market.
The move signals Max Healthcare’s intent to bring a consumer-centric, FMCG-style rigour to healthcare branding and experience, leveraging Marella’s background in building large-scale, insight-led marketing and CX programmes. With his experience in digital transformation and purpose-led campaigns, he is well placed to help Max strengthen its brand equity, improve patient engagement and drive loyalty in a category where trust and experience are key decision drivers.
