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Tag: president

  • Koo onboards Phaneesh Gururaj as president, technology

    Koo onboards Phaneesh Gururaj as president, technology

    Mumbai: Homegrown microblogging platform Koo on Friday brought onboard Phaneesh Gururaj as president- technology to lead the engineering and innovation team at the company. He has moved from redBus as leader of the engineering and product teams.

    Along with Gururaj, the technology team at Koo will consist of Google – VP of engineering, Badri Narayan; GoJek – VP & head of mobile division, Pavan Kunchapu; Walmart Labs – engineering leader & head of data platforms, Vivek Yadav. This newly appointed team will be tasked to further accentuate the engineering capabilities and ensure that the technology at Koo is prepared to manage the next level of scale.

    “In order to give shape and direction to creating a robust technology platform, Koo has put together a best-in-class engineering team that will work closely with Gururaj in India,” said the company in a statement.

    “Koo is the first social media platform that is being built from scratch in India. With the number of languages and features, Koo will eventually offer a robust technology team that will be the backbone of this effort,” said Koo, co-founder & CEO, Aprameya Radhakrishna. “With tremendous experience in building and managing platforms, Phaneesh and team have the credentials to support the growth expected at Koo.”

    At the end of August 2021, Koo achieved one crore downloads in just 16 months of going live. Koo is currently available in eight languages and has several pioneering technology features, said the company.

  • Yogesh Nehra named upGrad president, technology

    Yogesh Nehra named upGrad president, technology

    Mumbai: Higher ed-tech company upGrad has appointed Yogesh Nehra as president – technology to spearhead development for the tech infrastructure and make the online learning experience more immersive for its learners globally.

    In his new role at upGrad, Nehra will oversee high-performing engineering teams and driving digital transformation initiatives like product conceptualisation, and application architecture, which can further continue to add-on to the platform’s capabilities for a smoother consumer experience.  

    He brings with him over 15 years of experience in scaling and building high-performance teams, building ground-up software products, and aligning them with business growth to meet scale across the start-up ecosystem. He has co-founded and built ShopG as a social commerce product for Indian users. Before ShopG, Nehra was part of many unicorn’s journeys that include start-ups like Rivigo, Ola, Inmobi, and Wittyparrot among others.

    “We are thrilled to have Yogesh join the upGrad family at such an important juncture. As we are witnessing exponential growth in our user base, the existing infrastructure needs incremental re-engineering to embrace newer technologies that can be integrated into our existing processes to deliver a superior learning experience,” said upGrad, co-founder & MD, Mayank Kumar. “I am confident that his proven expertise in the domain will lead the company to the next level and support the ever-accelerating growth trajectory of the business.”

    “I am excited to join upGrad and contribute towards the vision of powering career success for every member of the global workforce as their trusted lifelong learning partner & driving meaningful career outcomes,” said Nehra. “I look forward to working with this dynamic team and using my expertise in building a product roadmap and infrastructure that will play a significant role in the company’s expansion journey in the coming years.”

  • Tom Jacomb takes charge as DNEG president, animation division

    Tom Jacomb takes charge as DNEG president, animation division

    Mumbai: Animation and VFX studio DNEG on Wednesday announced the promotion of Tom Jacomb as president of the animation division.

    Previously serving as managing director, Jacomb helped launch the feature animation division at DNEG in 2014. Based in London, he has guided the growth of the team to more than 500 employees across DNEG’s animation studios in London, Los Angeles, Montréal, and Mumbai. 

    “In his new role as president, Jacomb will oversee further worldwide investment and expansion of DNEG Animation, including expansion into Vancouver and the creation of up to 100 new animation roles in the city,” said the company in a statement.

    Jacomb’s promotion is effective concurrently with the appointment of five new senior members of DNEG Animation’s team and the studio’s expanding slate of new feature film and episodic animation productions.

    Freddy Chaleur and Yancy Lindquist have joined DNEG Animation’s team of VFX supervisors, which includes Philippe Denis, Archie Donato, and Taylor Moll; animation director Jay Boose joined the team’s animation leadership group, which includes Kapil Sharma, Troy Saliba, and Dave Lowry – all led by Ted Ty. The new hires are rounded out by the head of look development Sonja Burchard and producer Audrey Ford.  

    “Jacomb’s promotion and the onboarding of five new senior members of his team support our ambition for DNEG Animation to become one of the best and most highly regarded animation studios in the world,” said DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra. “Jacomb will continue to build a superlative global team and build upon the great successes.”

    “DNEG has long been known for its creative pedigree in visual effects, and I am incredibly proud of the opportunity to lead our amazing team and prove that DNEG can also excel in delivering the highest-quality animation projects,” said Tom Jacomb. “The team’s talents and hard work get the credit for our growth and the incredible projects that we are embarking on. Looking to the future, I am very pleased to welcome our new senior crew members, who will bolster DNEG Animation’s global capabilities with even more creativity, experience, and expertise.”

  • Ranjeet Kamtekar named president & sales head at Xanadu Bengaluru

    Ranjeet Kamtekar named president & sales head at Xanadu Bengaluru

    Mumbai: Xanadu Realty has announced the appointment of Ranjeet Kamtekar as president and head of sales for its Bengaluru operations. He will be responsible for establishing Xanadu Realty’s formidable presence as a ‘business accelerator’ in the South market and play a pivotal role in delivering on Xanadu’s promise to its clients, said the company.

    “Xanadu has ventured into the real estate sector in Bengaluru in the second half of 2020, and we’re certain that Ranjeet’s extensive experience in sales will add immense value to our business operations there,” said Xanadu Realty, CEO, Vikas Chaturvedi. “We are sure that his stellar track record and professional abilities will be a driving force behind establishing Xanadu’s presence in the center of India’s IT hub.”

    Kamtekar comes with over 17 years of experience in the sales and business development domains and has extensively worked in BFSI and real estate industries. He has been associated with Xanadu Realty Mumbai, for about five years now, during which he has helmed several residential and commercial projects. He has also played an integral role in the establishment of various business verticals – corporate sales, outstation sales, and channel partner network distribution, providing a significant boost to the overall growth of Xanadu Realty in Mumbai.

    In his impressive career graph, Kamtekar has worked as a sales manager-lending for ICICI Bank Ltd and as an AVP and senior relationship manager, business banking for HSBC. In the real estate sector, he was associated with the Lodha Group as the GM, where he was responsible for identifying various opportunities to drive deeper market penetration.

  • IAA appoints Megha Tata as president

    IAA appoints Megha Tata as president

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has appointed Megha Tata as its new president. She is the MD of Discovery South Asia and was elected as vice president of the association last year.

    The association announced the appointment in a tweet congratulating Tata on her new role.

    She is an industry veteran with nearly three decades of experience. Tata joined Discovery Communications in 2019 and has been spearheading the operations there. Prior to joining Discovery, Tata was serving as the chief operating officer at Business Television India (BTVI).

    Tata has held senior positions at Star India, HBO India, and Turner International. She has received many industry accolades and has had an illustrious career.

  • India’s Samrat Chowdhery appointed as INNCO President

    India’s Samrat Chowdhery appointed as INNCO President

    NEW DELHI: India’s harm reduction advocate Samrat Chowdhery has been appointed as the president of the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO), a global body of 34 national advocacy groups which has been recognised with UN observer status.

    INNCO represents consumers of low-risk, alternative nicotine products and promotes tobacco harm reduction (THR) at the global stage. The organisation actively works on engaging consumers in the global THR discussions. In the process, it develops and strengthens member organisations of the community.

    Talking about his new responsibility, Chowdhery said, “While harm reduction is a well-accepted intervention strategy in many fields, from addiction treatment to pandemic response, it is finding uncharacteristic opposition in tobacco use, which kills 8 million people every year. Our goal is to ensure consumers have a say in the framing of global tobacco policies as they are affected the most by them.”

    Chowdhery, a former journalist, has been spearheading THR activities and campaigns in India as the founder of CHRA (Council for Harm Reduced Alternatives) and director of Association of Vapers India (AVI). CHRA and AVI have been advocating for risk reduction in tobacco use since 2016, stating that access to less harmful alternatives such as vaping, snus and heated tobacco can help mitigate the high tobacco burden in India.

    Chowdhery was honoured with the 'Advocate of the Year' award at the Global Forum for Nicotine (GFN) in Warsaw in June 2018. He has been invited to various international forums to speak on strategies to deal with the tobacco crisis. He was nominated to the governing board of INNCO two years ago.

    INNCO was formed in 2016 when consumer advocacy groups from across the world came together with the mission of representing the world’s 1.1 billion smokers and millions of users of lower-risk alternatives who often find themselves excluded from decisions that affect them severely. Since then, INNCO has made numerous representations at WHO and national levels, and has secured nearly a $1 million grant for 2020-21 for its advocacy work.

     The other appointments made by INNCO include Ángeles Muntadas-Prim Lafita of Spain as VP, Rob de Lange of Netherlands as secretary and Ingmar Kurg of Estonia as greasurer.

    Apart from the office bearers, Asa Saligupta from Thailand, Tomas O'Gorman from Mexico and Claude Bramberger from France have been added to the governing body.

  • News Broadcasters Federation elects Arnab Goswami as president

    News Broadcasters Federation elects Arnab Goswami as president

    MUMBAI: News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), the country’s largest industry association of more than 78 news channels representing broadcasters from 14 languages and 25 states of the country met on Saturday to firm up the governance and management structure, as well to finalize on the modalities of a self-regulatory organisation – News Broadcasters Federation Authority – with an aim to bring in transparent self-regulation on content.

    In the biggest ever congregation of news broadcasters for a common cause that represents their combined interests and perspective on matters related to the news broadcasting industry, on Saturday in New Delhi, the members unanimously elected  Republic TV managing director and editor in chief Arnab Goswami as the new president of NBF’s governing board. 

    “I am grateful for the trust and confidence shown in me by the largest every group of broadcasters in India. NBF is a game changer and its incredible how so many channel owners and top executives have come together so quickly to make NBF happen," Arnab Goswami said on being elected as the President of NBF. “For far too long a clutch of Delhi based channels have falsely claimed to represent Indian broadcasting. NBF will change that, for good.” 

    The members also elected four vice presidents, namely Jagi Mangat Panda co-founder of Ortel Communications; Shankar Bala of Fourth Dimension Media; Sanjive Narain, Chairman and Managing Director of Prag News, and Kartikeya Sharma of ITV Network, who will be part of the governing board. 

    Among the founder members of the NBF are the following: Republic Media Network (Republic TV and Republic Bharat), Puthiyathalaimurai ( Tamil Nadu) and V6 News (Telangana), Orissa TV (Orissa), IBC24 (MP and Chhattisgarh), TV9 Bharatvarsh, Newslive and Northeast Live (Assam and Northeast), First India News (Rajasthan), Kolkata TV (West Bengal), CVR News (AP and Telangana), Polimer News (Tamil Nadu), Khabar Fast (Haryana), Living India News (Punjab), Prag News (Assam), NTV (AP and Telangana),  Maha News (AP and Telangana), TV5 News (AP and Telangana), MKTV (Tamil Nadu), Vanitha TV (AP and Telangana), DNN and IND24 (MP), Shri Sankara TV and Ayush TV (Karnataka), A1 TV (Jaipur), Power TV (Karnataka),Raj News (Tamil Nadu), Twentyfour News (Kerala), CVR News Network (AP and Telangana), 
    National Voice (Uttar Pradesh), Nirman News (Gujarat), Anaadi TV (MP and Chhattisgarh), VRL Media (Karnataka), Calcutta News (West Bengal),News 7 (Tamil Nadu), DNN and News World ( MP and Chhattisgarh), M H One ( Haryana), Mantavya News (Gujarat), Gujarat Television ( Gujarat), S Newz ( West Bengal), Bansal TV ( MP) and Onkat TV (West Bengal).

    “I think this is one of the best moves that have been taken up with all of us together and thinking that in the broadcasting industry, it will be a big step,” said Pride East Entertainment chairman and managing director Riniki Bhuyan Sharma.

    “We represent around 100 crore people. Earlier we were not be able to hear in Delhi. Now we are an association where we can reach out in Delhi and sort out our problems, and that’s the best part of it,” said Twentyfour News COO Anil Ayroor. 

    The members also unanimously named R. Jai Krishna, a former journalist and public policy specialist in the Media sector, as the first secretary-general/ executive director of NBF. R. Jai Krishna comes with more than two decades experience and expertise especially in the news media industry. He will run the secretariat being set up in New Delhi, given the proximity to government ministries, concerned departments and industry regulators. 

    “I am more than happy to represent the aspirations of news broadcasters from across the country and resolve their common issues to make news industry more sustainable,” R. Jai Krishna said on his appointment. 

    NBF is the largest-ever federation of news channels, representing news broadcasters across the country, was formed in July this year, by bringing together 50 news channels. NBF jointly is sled by an experience and expertise of over 1000 years, deliver news and information to more than 100 crore viewers from 
    Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and Gandhi Nagar to Guwahati, through their more than 100,000 direct and indirect employees. 

    Chandigarh-based Living India News director Angad Deep Singh added, “NBF had to be set up, because we the regional players wanted someone who could be a voice in the nation. Even the regional or all of us had to be together to the problems which all of us are facing.” 

    “After forming NBF everyone is coming together, and there are so many people who are interested and who are joining NBF, they are enthusiastic,” said Digiana 
    Industries chairman Sukhdev Singh Ghuman. “I think the regional channels are going to be benefitted a lot.” 

    Prior to the Board meeting, the members met the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, and presented their first set of memorandum. The Minister urged NBF and its members to form a strong self-regulatory mechanism, while recognizing the importance of news 
    channels within the Media and Entertainment sector. 

    The President of NBF will steer a focused group in formation of the self-regulatory body – ‘News Broadcasters Federation Authority’, which will create new standards for news broadcasting and address any violation through a committee of editors from within the federation. The self-regulation mechanism will be led by a Chairman, and four independent eminent persons, and another four editors. The new Self-Regulatory Organization is scheduled to be announced officially by end of January 2020. 

    “We will strive to make self-regulations and we will strive to make to benefit the industry and take forward this industry in a very positive way keeping in mind the entire country, keeping in mind the entire diversity of the country in mind. We will take it forward,” added Sanjive Narain.

    The members of NBF also formalized the members of the three issues-Specific Committees – Public 
    Policy, Distribution, and Finance – by electing among the members through a mode of consensus.

  • Yoga-Day App by Esri India

    MUMBAI: Ahead of the International Yoga Day, Esri India, country’s leading Geographic Information System (GIS) Software & Solutions provider, has announced the availability of an app to help yoga enthusiasts locate a Yoga Centre and join the International Yoga Day celebrations on 21 June. This app – Yogamplify is available through web and mobile phones.

    Yogamplify mobile app can be downloaded from the Google Playstore.

    Using Yogamplify app, Yoga event organizers can list their International Yoga Day events and provide details like location, timing, chief guest and capacity. This information will be placed on an interactive map. Yoga enthusiasts can view the yoga events organized near their locations on the map and find the best way to reach there. Yoga practitioners as well as enthusiasts can also share the events details with their contacts through social media directly from the app to promote the event and inspire more people to be a part of Yoga day celebrations. This app makes use of Esri’s Cloud known as ArcGIS Online.

    Commenting on the initiative, Agendra Kumar, President, Esri India, said, “Esri India supports government’s vision for promoting Yoga around the globe. Yoga day is a global event that promotes yoga for healthy living. Yogamplify is our contribution to support this vision through an innovative application that demonstrates the simplicity and accessibility of the GIS technology.”

  • Viacom regularises Bob Bakish as CEO; discontinues potential combination with CBS

    Viacom regularises Bob Bakish as CEO; discontinues potential combination with CBS

    MUMBAI: The Board of Directors of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) announced today that it has discontinued the exploration of a potential combination with CBS following receipt of National Amusements’ letter and request, and dissolved the Special Committee that was formed to evaluate a potential transaction. It has appointed Bob Bakish as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board, effective immediately.

    Bakish has served as the acting president and the chief executive officer of Viacom since 15 November 2016. He held leadership positions throughout the organization since joining in 1997, most recently serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom International Media Networks prior to his Acting CEO role.

    Board chairman Tom May said, “In Bob’s short time as Acting President and CEO he has impressed the Board of Directors with the decisive steps he has taken. He has moved quickly to deliver upon the mandate given to him – to maximize Viacom’s potential as a strong, growing and independent company. We have great confidence in Bob’s strategic vision and his ability to move forward aggressively to position Viacom for the future.”

    Board vice chair Shari Redstone said, “I am very excited by the strategy Viacom is pursuing under Bob’s leadership, as well as the relentless hard work and passion he has demonstrated not only in his fast start at the helm but in his many years at the company. While there is much work to do, I firmly believe that Viacom has a bright future, and that confidence is underpinned by senior management’s commitment to innovation and a more coordinated, global approach to managing our brands.”

    Bakish said, “I am honored to be chosen by the Board to lead Viacom, its world-class brands and exceedingly talented people. I believe unequivocally in this company and its potential to create new opportunities and drive greater value as our business evolves and our industry transforms. We’ve been working very quickly to mobilize the organization, reenergize our culture and address our areas of greatest need. I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Board and our team to build on this momentum, and will share more on our plan and path forward in the New Year.”

  • Viacom regularises Bob Bakish as CEO; discontinues potential combination with CBS

    Viacom regularises Bob Bakish as CEO; discontinues potential combination with CBS

    MUMBAI: The Board of Directors of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) announced today that it has discontinued the exploration of a potential combination with CBS following receipt of National Amusements’ letter and request, and dissolved the Special Committee that was formed to evaluate a potential transaction. It has appointed Bob Bakish as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board, effective immediately.

    Bakish has served as the acting president and the chief executive officer of Viacom since 15 November 2016. He held leadership positions throughout the organization since joining in 1997, most recently serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom International Media Networks prior to his Acting CEO role.

    Board chairman Tom May said, “In Bob’s short time as Acting President and CEO he has impressed the Board of Directors with the decisive steps he has taken. He has moved quickly to deliver upon the mandate given to him – to maximize Viacom’s potential as a strong, growing and independent company. We have great confidence in Bob’s strategic vision and his ability to move forward aggressively to position Viacom for the future.”

    Board vice chair Shari Redstone said, “I am very excited by the strategy Viacom is pursuing under Bob’s leadership, as well as the relentless hard work and passion he has demonstrated not only in his fast start at the helm but in his many years at the company. While there is much work to do, I firmly believe that Viacom has a bright future, and that confidence is underpinned by senior management’s commitment to innovation and a more coordinated, global approach to managing our brands.”

    Bakish said, “I am honored to be chosen by the Board to lead Viacom, its world-class brands and exceedingly talented people. I believe unequivocally in this company and its potential to create new opportunities and drive greater value as our business evolves and our industry transforms. We’ve been working very quickly to mobilize the organization, reenergize our culture and address our areas of greatest need. I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Board and our team to build on this momentum, and will share more on our plan and path forward in the New Year.”