ITV

Tag: chief technology officer

  • Piyush Gupta resigns as group CTO of TV Today network

    Piyush Gupta resigns as group CTO of TV Today network

    MUMBAI:  TV Today network has announced the resignation of Piyush Gupta from his position as group chief technology officer. Gupta submitted his resignation via letter, indicating his intent to pursue new opportunities elsewhere. The company has accepted his resignation, and he will officially relinquish his duties at the close of business on 15 April 2025. TV Today informed the Bombay stock exchange about his resignation through a regulatory filing.

    Piyush Gupta has had a distinguished career in the broadcasting industry, having served as Group CTO at TV Today since January 2015. Prior to that, he spent 15 years at Network18 Media & Investments Limited, where he played a pivotal role in launching several prominent channels, including CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, and others. His extensive experience includes overseeing technology and operational processes that significantly contributed to the growth of the network.

    Gupta began his career at Television18  India and also served as a senior engineer at NDTV, bringing a wealth of technical knowledge and leadership experience to his roles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Delhi University.

    As TV Today Network prepares for this transition, Gupta’s contributions to the organization and the broadcasting sector will certainly be remembered. For further information, please contact TV Today Network’s corporate communications team.
     

  • Gracenote hires Bill Michels as chief product officer

    Gracenote hires Bill Michels as chief product officer

    MUMBAI: He’s got noteworthy credentials. Bill Michels, who was brought in as AC Nielsen’s content solutions business unit Gracenote’s chief product officer,  has held senior leadership roles in companies like Moloco, The Trade Desk, Foursquare/Factual and Yahoo.

    As chief product officer,  Bill has been given the responsibility for leading Gracenote’s global product team as the company looks to grow its suite of video, sports and music products and accelerate key market expansion initiatives.
     

    “As Gracenote redefines the role of metadata in an AI world, it was important to bring in someone like Bill Michels who has successfully built data businesses and platforms powered by machine learning,” said Gracenote CEO Jared Grusd, CEO. “Bill joins at a very exciting time for Gracenote and his adjacent experience will help the company think more horizontally and accelerate our growth initiatives.”

    Bill brings two decades of product management, engineering and data partnership expertise across CTV, ad tech and search to Gracenote, as well as deep experience operationalising and scaling products globally. 

    “As someone who is passionate about data, the chance to create products powered by Gracenote’s unparalleled dataset—the industry’s most comprehensive and enriched—is truly exciting,” said Bill Michels. “I’m thrilled to join such a talented team and eager to bring my experience to the table as we drive Gracenote’s next evolution of growth.”

    Bill’s appointment marks the most recent addition to the Gracenote executive leadership team. Earlier this year, Phani Kalagara was named chief technology officer for Gracenote. Phani is a highly accomplished technology leader with deep expertise building large, diverse and high performing global teams. He has held various leadership roles at multinational companies such as PayPal, Flipkart and Advanced Interactive Systems. Most recently, Phani served as chief product and technology officer at Pine Labs, a privately held fintech company focused on building merchant platforms and payment solutions that enable efficient financial transactions.

  • dentsu APAC appoints Christina Lee as CTO

    dentsu APAC appoints Christina Lee as CTO

    Mumbai: dentsu Asia Pacific on Wednesday announced the appointment of Christina Lee as chief technology officer (CTO), effective 4 April. 

    In her role, Lee will be responsible for providing overarching technology strategy, industry-leading capabilities and solutions to enable business growth and drive day to day operations through transformational business and technology initiatives, said the statement.

    Based in Hong Kong, she will report directly to global CTO Dominic Shine, and be part of both global and APAC senior management teams, it added.

    “Christina is a committed leader who is passionate about organisational design, understands the problems that will be faced during hyper-growth, and is energised by solving these problems,” commented Dominic Shine. “She brings with her strong experience and a successful track record in driving significant transformational change through technology across organisations, as well as in the delivery of data and digital products. I look forward to having her on the team.” 

    Bringing with her over two decades of senior leadership experience in information and digital technology, Lee has a strong track record of consulting and industry experience in strategy, business transformation, business partnership, vendor management and solution delivery, as well as aligning and advancing IT as a tool and driver for business of Fortune 500 multi-national brand companies.

    Prior to joining dentsu, she held senior leadership roles at Kering Group as APAC chief information officer and L’Oréal as South Asia Pacific Chief Information Officer, where she led IT for the most strategic and complex region and successfully established the tech organisation strategy for APAC.

    “I have ambition for technology to be a champion of change for brands and businesses to optimise their business practice, and also be a strategic partner to help business to get maximum benefits from the data and technologies,” said Christina Lee. “dentsu values technology and innovation at the heart of its culture and I could not be more excited to be working together with this incredible, high performing team of technology professionals.”

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  • Wondrlab bolsters leadership team with two key appointments

    Wondrlab bolsters leadership team with two key appointments

    Mumbai: Homegrown platform-first martech startup Wondrlab has appointed Siddhyesh Narkar as chief technology officer and Shama Sayed as head of sales. By strengthening its technology and sales teams, the company is aiming for aggressive growth and to bolster its core business in the martech space. 

    Both Narkar and Sayed will be based in Mumbai and will report to Wondrlab co-founder and managing partner Vandana Verma. “We are heading towards extraordinary growth and expansion for the martech platforms by building a world-class technology and sales team. Both Narkar and Sayed are a perfect fit as their vision integrates seamlessly with our objectives,” Verma said. 

    Narkar has over 15 years of diverse experience in the technology industry. Before joining Wondrlab, he was CTO at Digitas and SapientRazorfish. At Wondrlab, he will oversee technology development across all products and platforms. “Wondrlab’s vision is to disrupt the way brands perceive communication. This role enables me to reimagine & build world-class technology innovations around the ever-changing technology landscape,” said Narkar.

    Sayed will lead business and partnerships with a core focus on disrupting the digital space. With over two decades of experience in broadcast and digital, she has worked with stellar brands such as Star, Sony, Investing.com. “I don’t think this opportunity could have come at a better time for me as martech becomes even more dynamic than ever. We plan to employ technological innovations that will help scale-up and expand so that we can reach our goals and continue to offer unique solutions to brands,” stated Sayed.

  • Roopesh Pujari elevated as CTO at Publicis Groupe India

    Roopesh Pujari elevated as CTO at Publicis Groupe India

    Mumbai: Publicis Groupe India has elevated Roopesh Pujari to the position of chief technology officer. 

    In this role, he will steer the development of all technology capabilities across the company in India including expansion of cloud solutions, platform integration, capability and capacity building and streamlining partners. “He will work closely with the India leadership team and his priorities will include stronger cohesion of specialised teams across the group agencies and practices, acceleration of both bespoke and enterprise projects that sharpen client success,” said the company in a statement.

    “Given the rapidly evolving landscape around 5G, web 3.0, metaverse, NFTs, blockchain, crypto and the like, technology roadmap is central to the success of any business. The new role will aid us in futureproofing our organisation as well as enabling the right support to client strategies,” said Publicis Groupe South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya. “Roopesh not only brings the right experience and competence but comes in with an exemplary track record from within our organisation.”

    Pujari comes with 25 years of IT leadership experience in product design/development, core system transformation, enterprise architecture, program management, process improvement and services management across various domains – BFSI, manufacturing, consulting, publishing, aviation/airlines, healthcare. A mechanical engineer from Karnataka University, he is also a qualified MBA and MS in strategic finance from Indiana University, USA.

    Before joining Publicis Media in March 2019, he had worked extensively both in India and the US with organisations such as Apple, Pfizer, Dell, the US Army, Mondelez, etc. He also has rich experience in hiring and ramping up teams in both the US and India.

    “Technology is the bedrock of all growth,” commented Roopesh Pujari. “Over the last years, we have invested strongly in the technology capabilities across the group, and I am excited to take on this opportunity that allows us to scale up tech solutions across the group – from creative to content to media to experiences! With such a vast canvas I believe we will also become a super-attractive employer for talented individuals looking for true variety in exposure and experience.”

  • apna appoints Shantanu Preetam as its first CTO

    apna appoints Shantanu Preetam as its first CTO

    Mumbai: Homegrown jobs and professional networking platform apna has announced the appointment of Shantanu Preetam as its first chief technology officer (CTO).

    As the CTO at apna, Preetam will be responsible to build upon the technology foundation, strengthening it further through the platform and right organisational structure, said the company in a statement on Wednesday. “He will be closely working with the business, growth and product teams to align technology with company goals,” it added.

    “I am thrilled to have someone of Shantanu’s caliber join our team. Seeing his journey of the last two decades, I have been blown away by his capabilities as a leader,” said apna CEO and founder Nirmit Parikh. “Shantanu and I have already spent hours together, discussing everything from engineering and products to culture strategy and vision. We firmly believe that Shantanu will help shape our long-term vision and help build a robust tech platform that will determine the future of apna and the dreams of 2.3 billion people around the world.”

    An alumnus of the University of Pune, Preetam comes with over two decades of experience in digital transformation, technology architecture, e-commerce, consumer-facing products, supply chain technologies, AI/MI, and data analytics. He has led teams across geographies and industries to design and develop highly scalable world-class products.

    Preetam has driven tech growth strategies to enable software development, cloud platforms and infrastructure engineering. Shantanu has previously led teams at some of the top companies including PayU, Walmart, Yahoo, and Dell.

    “I am always on the lookout for the next big thing in our ecosystem we are part of. apna’s mission to empower a billion lives is ambitious, motivating and hard-hitting,” said Shantanu Preetam on his new assingment. “I am confident that through technology, we will be able to scale apna faster than any other consumer-facing product and not only change lives but also become the world’s largest jobs and professional networking platform in the next few years.”

  • Games24x7 onboards Rajat Bansal as chief technology officer

    Games24x7 onboards Rajat Bansal as chief technology officer

    Mumbai: Amazon Lockers’ former head of engineering Rajat Bansal has joined online gaming company Games24x7 as chief technology officer (CTO).

    A key addition to the company’s leadership team, Bansal will be responsible for outlining and implementing the company’s technological vision and ensuring that the technological resources are aligned with the business needs, said the company in a statement.

    He will be spearheading technology and will be responsible for delivering creative strategies to maximise tech innovation and provide an intuitive gaming experience to players, it added.

    “Rajat will bolster our already market-leading technology infrastructure to accelerate growth and innovation at Games24x7. We are delighted to welcome such a remarkable leader amongst us,” said Games24x7 co-founders and CEOs  Trivikraman Thampy and Bhavin Pandya in a joint statement.

    With an enriching experience of over two decades, Bansal has an illustrious track record in the technology industry. In his tenure at Amazon, he served in the Amazon Prime Video team before joining the leadership team for Amazon Lockers. Prior to Amazon, he served at Naukri.com as EVP and Hike messenger as CTO.

    “Games24x7 has had an outstanding journey so far, disrupting the sector with constant tech innovations,” said Rajat Bansal on his new aasignment. “I am excited to join Games24x7 at this pivotal phase, as it plans on deploying newer technologies and developing robust services across its products.

  • Shahabuddin Shaikh joins ALTBalaji as CTO

    Shahabuddin Shaikh joins ALTBalaji as CTO

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji has appointed Shahabuddin Shaikh as the chief technology officer (CTO). In his new role, he will be responsible for designing a strong tech-driven ecosystem that seamlessly aligns with the brand’s tech vision and leading their overall technology transformation goals.  Shaikh will directly report to ALTBalaji CEO and Balaji Telefilms Group COO Nachiket Pantvaidya.

    With an experience of 20 years in the technology infrastructure, Shaikh’s expertise lies in envisioning solutions that propel product development. His in-depth knowledge of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, internet of things, and big data, among others, will help in expanding company growth. Prior to this, he has worked with brands like Vuclip Pvt Ltd , Mauj Mobile, Orios Ltd, Informatic Systems, among others.

    Shaikh launched the VIU app to support 21 million active user base and generate 2.3 billion video minutes a month with an increase in revenue by 2.5 million. During his stint with Mauj Mobile, he was responsible for expanding and stabilising growing MVAS content management platforms.

    Pantvaidya said: “We at ALTBalaji have been working towards building a strong application that’s supported by a talented team and flourishing technology. Shahabuddin has an impeccable record of building and aligning technology organisations with business objectives to achieve results. We welcome him to our organisation.”

    Shaikh said: “I am elated to be undertaking a new responsibility with a leading OTT brand like ALTBalaji. I look forward to working towards building a more seamless and engaging experience for the customers while meeting brand’s tech needs.”  

  • DB Digital appoints Paresh Goel as chief technology officer

    DB Digital appoints Paresh Goel as chief technology officer

    MUMBAI: DB Digital, the digital products business of the Dainik Bhaskar Group (DBCL), India’s largest print media company and home to flagship newspapers like Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar and Divya Marathi, announced the appointment of Paresh Goel as the chief technology officer.

    Goel has a dynamic experience of close to two decades in building and operating technology systems at scale while working with some of the leading digital consumer companies including Adobe. He will be responsible for the technology function at DB Digital.

    Prior to joining DB Digital, Goel was VP, Engineering at Meesho, one of the fastest-growing startups in India, and had also started his own company in the Ed Tech space before selling it to Adda247. Prior to that, he was in a technology leadership role at Hike Messenger and Adobe Systems. He is an expert in scaling technology systems across social, content, & commerce and has a proven track record of building products that are used by millions of users now.

    DB Digital CEO Pathik Shah commented “I’m extremely excited to welcome Paresh on board. We have worked together in the past on growing consumer products to tens of millions of users and built a lot of innovative features together. We’re looking forward to forming a stellar Product and Technology team for building an extremely high quality, engaging and personalized News product which can serve and delight the entire vernacular news market, the likes of which India, unfortunately, lacks right now. We are at a very interesting stage of growth at present, and we’re looking forward to taking DB Digital to the next level”.

    Goel said, "I am delighted to be leading Technology at DB Digital. We have a unique opportunity to create a meaningful impact on users’ lives via a personalised digital news platform. As the internet penetration continues to rise in India, people are looking at us as their trusted brand to deliver them the news most relevant to them on mobile. We will be building the most engaging content experience which is miles ahead of anything else in the market right now. We will further couple this with Machine Learning to surface highly personalized news for our users. People in India deserve high quality, insightful and engaging news – and this is precisely what our mission is. I am ready for and very excited about the challenge.”

  • Walmart to focus on small startup acquihires in India

    Walmart to focus on small startup acquihires in India

    MUMBAI: Walmart is looking for tech acquisitions in India. The retailer, which agreed to acquire home-grown e-commerce platform Flipkart in May, is now looking for tech acquisition to strengthen its technology unit Walmart Labs.

    Unlike other overseas internet companies such as Amazon and Google, the Arkansas-based company will eye acqui-hire/acquisitions involving small amounts. Acqui-hiring refers to the practice of buying a company in a cut-price deal primarily for the purpose of ‘hiring’ the company’s founders and key employees.

    “We got close to doing a couple of (acquisitions)… nothing that was a perfect fit. There were a couple that would have been interesting additions to our competitive intelligence platform. I’m looking at (acquisition candidates) in merchandising, machine learning right now,” said Walmart chief technology officer Jeremy King as quoted by publication Mint.

    King also said that Walmart Labs will hire 2,000 engineers across the world, including India. Last year, Walmart Labs hired Hari Vasudev from Flipkart to head its Bengaluru office. Vasudev is also now acting head of data science for Walmart globally. Walmart Labs will hire more senior tech talent in Bengaluru.

    “The initial team in Bengaluru was only 30 people and now we have several hundreds. We’re hiring machine learning experts, anyone who’s got merchandising and supply chain experience, data science and cloud experts… just high-quality engineers. We also have some product openings,” the report quoted him as stating.

    Having set up its centre in Bengaluru, Walmart completes the acquisition of Flipkart, which is expected to be wrapped up this quarter; Walmart Labs will work closely with the tech team of the Indian online retailer. Other American retail and tech firms such as Amazon, Uber, Target and others have tech centres in Bengaluru as hiring engineers here is far cheaper than in the US.

    The acquisitions will, however, be of a much smaller size in comparison to the investment of $16 billion to buy 77 per cent stake in Flipkart.