Bhat plans to retire from full-time employment for personal reasons, and will return to India to focus on special projects for the agency.
The appointment marks the latest chapter in Levitt's career, which most recently saw him found and run Australian ad boutique, George, and he feels the lessons he has learned will stand him in good stead, "When you run your own show you are accountable," says Levitt. "To be able translate that same sense of ownership and collaboration is very relevant."
As part of his mandate, Levitt will head up Ogilvy's training and development programmes, through a network of 20 local office training leaders. The scale of this stage was a key attraction in his decision to join. "Deep down I'm an animal that prefers a bigger park to run in," he explained.
In particular, Levitt expects to spend much of his time in China, given the need to develop talent to keep pace with the country's economic growth.
"Inevitably, I'm going to spend a lot of time in China because of the scale of the operation and because the talent base is so diverse," he points out. "The fact is we're in a market where the brands should become global. To have people who have the sophistication to deliver on that dream is bound to take up a lot of time."
Levitt describes his brief in terms of "helping people", but does admit that the need to build trust between agencies and clients remains as pressing as ever.
"Asia-Pacific still has that sense of the individual," he noted. "How we build that individual up, and train and work with people to get that level of trust is probably one of the best games around."
Prior to joining George, Levitt worked stints with the Worldwide Retail Exchange and Futurebrand in the USA and Europe. Having been out of the agency arena for six years, he feels that Ogilvy is the ideal destination for his return.
"The opportunity to work within one network had eluded me for some time," he said.