Speakers | Digital Media India 2019
Digital Media India 2019
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Former Editor, The Hindu and Chairman, World Editors Forum, South Asia Chapter
Mukund Padmanabhan was the Editor of The Hindu. Earlier, he was the Editor of The Hindu Businessline. Currently, he is a Professor of Practice at the newly-established Krea University, north of Chennai. Mukund is an M-Phil in Philosophy and worked briefly as a lecturer in University of Delhi before switching to journalism. He is interested in and has written about politics, legal affairs, and literature. He was an adjunct faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, where he taught law and advanced writing to post-graduate students.
Chief Product Officer, Singapore Press Holdings
As Chief Product Officer, Gaurav is driving the vision, strategy, design, development and monetization of Singapore Press Holding’s digital media content and products. Backed with 15+ years of experience in technology, business strategy and product management, Gaurav was Head of Product for Growth team at Grab, Product Leader at Autodesk & Adobe driving their respective products portfolios, whilst defining the next generation strategy and steering core thinking for these products through business model transformation. Gaurav has an MBA from Indian School of Business (India), and has a background in computer science and engineering from Cambridge University (UK) and Delhi College of Engineering (India). Outside of work he dwells in photography and music, and was the lead singer of two Indian rock bands, which he co-founded.
Head, Product & Marketing, Bloomberg|Quint
Ankit Dhadda is a digital marketing and product professional with over nine years of experience across education, personal finance & media. He currently heads marketing and product for Bloomberg|Quint and helped establish the Bloomberg|Quint Brand Studio.
Prior to Bloomberg|Quint, he was heading marketing for BigDecisions.com, a NewsCorp company in India and handling the digital portfolio for the education venture of the Times of India Group.
He holds a master’s degree in marketing and finance, and when not in the office, prefers to run and watch Arsenal play football.
Editor Saliente, Toronto Star, Canadá
Michael Cooke started his career at Toronto star to cover the election in Canada in the beginning of 1970s. Later on he helped to launch the newspaper The National Post, one of the biggest newspaper in Canada. He was the last editor of the Financial Post and merged the two papers The National Post and Financial Post.
He spent a decade in America, first as the editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, then Editor of the New York Daily News. Michael then moved back to Toronto, Canada to be served as Editor of the Toronto Star.
He also joined the Board of Journalists for Human Rights at 2010, has been Chairman for two years and then continuous travelling and teaching (pro bono) in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also taught for other NGOs in Uganda and Myamar and most recently Bangladesh.
He has also written various foreign stories from these countries, plus Afghanistan.
Founder of FACTLY
Rakesh Dubbudu is a well-known transparency & Open Data Campaigner in India and also the founder of ‘FACTLY’, one of the well-known ‘Public Information/Data Journalism’ portals in India. He has been working on Right to Information (RTI) related issues for the last 13 years. Rakesh played a significant role in the launch of the 'Open Data Policy' by the Government of Telangana, the newest state in India. He is also visiting faculty at various administrative training institutes of the state & central governments.
Rakesh brings immense experience in dealing with Government Data, Policy and various government related information. He has numerous awards & fellowships to his credit like the South & Central Asia Region Legislative Fellows Program of the US State Department, RTI Fellowship of Government of India, Distinguished Alumni award from his alma mater NIT Warangal.
Policy analyst & Journalist
K. Yatish Rajawat is an award-winning journalist and columnist who writes on policy, economics and technology. He is especially interested in urbanization and its impact and solutions to make Indian cities livable.
He has created both digital and print platforms.
He was earlier the Editor in Chief of DNA newspaper.He was also part of the founding team and Chief Strategy Officer at Localcircles.com, the largest digital citizen engagement platform in India responsible for communities, partnerships and alliances. Prior to that Mr. Rajawat was the Group Managing Editor of Dainik Bhaskar, the largest newspaper group in India where he helped the group launch the first hindi business newspaper Business Bhaskar. He was the first Technology Editor of India’s largest business newspaper Economic Times in 1999 and was awarded the Best Journalist of the Year Award by Madhu Valluri Foundation in 2002. He has also worked in Hindu Business Line and Businessworld magazine at senior leadership roles.
He is a regular policy commentator for public broadcasters and several private news channels. He is a fellow at the Institute of Competitiveness, India, the Indian knot in the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School. He is a mentor and adviser at Future Institute one of the largest Indian Think Tank on urbanization. He is also on advisory committee of Universities and schools.
Head of Marketing, The Daily Star
Winner of South Asia Digital Media Awards 2017 by Google and WAN-IFRA, "South Asian Business Excellence award by HRD Congress and The Most Influential global marketers by World Marketing Congress, Tajdin is a bold but a thoughtful leader who has brought a vision of change, far broader than " a tweak here and a tweak there". Currently working as "Head of Marketing" in The Daily Star, the leading English daily of the country. He is a passionate, creative and result driven leader with strong understanding of Business strategy and transformation. He has revamped the business model of The Daily Star and created alternative channels to ensure business growth. He has recently launched Messenger BoT, kind of first for a media house in South Asia and this achievement has been highlighted in INMA, the International News Media Association and GXpress, an Australia based technology newspaper. He has also been invited to Chennai, India as a speaker to present case study on Artificial Intelligence based digital product along with BBC UK and other renowned
brands.
He possesses extensive knowledge in marketing, strategic planning, project management and business development experience across media, telecoms, Oil & gas, courier & logistics and fast moving consumer goods industries. He has also worked for flagship brands like BAT, Chevron, Robi Axiata ltd and DHL Express ltd.
He represented The Daily Star in World News Congress in Washington DC and Digital Media Congress
in Hong Kong. Apart from that he attended number of training programs and workshops in Germany,
Switzerland, Singapore, Bangkok and Srilanka. Tajdin is also a successful Google Squared (The digital
marketing leadership course developed with Google) online graduate. He is also passionate about writing articles on his blog (www.tajdinhassan.com) and sharing those on various social networking sites. He has done his executive MBA from IBA and currently he is also the President of Alumni Association of Brac University.
Asst. Editor & Director, Malayala Manorama, India
Editorial Director, Swarajya, India
Journalist with over 42 years’ experience in business and general journalism. Has been part of many launch teams, including Business Today, DNA and Firstpost.com. Has also helped revamp many business publications as Editor of Financial Express, Indian Management, and BusinessWorld. Started career with Financial Express as reporter/sub-editor in 1976 in Mumbai. Recent focus has been on digital commentary and journalism, having been associated with Firstpost.com, Moneycontrol,com, business-standard.com, and myiris.com. Was awarded the Shriram Sanlam Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Currently Editorial Director of Swarajya magazine.
Digital Media Head, Lokmat Media, India
Hemant has been associated with Lokmat Media Pvt. Ltd. since 2016 as Sr.EVP & Head of digital business. At Lokmat, Hemant spearheads digital transformation and setting up newer businesses for the group in the online news, entertainment, original content & branded solutions space. In a very short span of time, he has been instrumental in building and scaling the digital footprint for the group, making it a leading local language player in the digital news and entertainment space in India.
Hemant is an entrepreneurial leader with over 2 decades of experience in digital media and technology, delivering step function growth for leading companies in the Online News, Mobile Entertainment, FM Radio, Telecom Retail, & Digital Agency space.
Hemant’s professional journey in digital media industry began in 1996, with the launch of indianexpress.com. During the period 1997-2001, he set up digital media divisions for some of the leading advertising agencies in India - TBWA, Euro RSCG & Mudra Communications. In 2002 he joined Reliance Webstores as part of the founding team, responsible for brand & consumer marketing, launched 241 broadband cafes across 105 cities in India. Hemant spearheaded the India business for Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. for 6.5 years (2008-2014), responsible for leading Hungama’s growth as a dominant in the mobile entertainment space. Before joining Lokmat, in his role as an entrepreneur, Hemant launched ‘Happitoo’, India’s 1st nightlife planning app and managed his startup for 2 years (2014-2016)
Hemant leverages his deep understanding of digital technologies & consumer insights, expertise in multi-format content (creation & aggregation), multi-platform distribution, audience building & monetisation in digital age to scale businesses within a competitive framework. He is a student for life, fostering a winning attitude and leading as a “Player-Coach”
He is recognized as one of India's “100 Smartest Digital Marketing Leaders” for 2 consecutive years (2019 & 2020) by the World Digital Marketing Congress & endorsed by CMO Asia.
Co-founder & CEO, The Ken
Assistant Editor, The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka
I started my career in 1994 and have worked in several major publications in the country. I was also a correspondent for the Associated Press and continues to string for The Economist and NHK Japan Broadcasting from Sri Lanka. I have done exhaustive coverage of Sri Lanka's civil war, corruption and politics. I have also worked in radio and won international and national journalism awards as well as fellowships. I received the D.R. Wijewardene Award for Earning the Appreciation of Peers and the Public in 2006 and 2017 from the Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Press Institute, the only journalist to get it twice by nomination. I have been a director of the Sri Lanka Press Complaints Commission. I am currently the Assistant Editor of the Sunday Times in Sri Lanka.
Program Director, MDIF South Asia
Koreel comes with nearly two decades of experience in media investing,
strategy and editorial. At MDIF, he is responsible for the firm's
investment mandate in South Asia. Before this, as COO of IPS Media
Foundation, he focused on developing a robust eco-system for independent
media, and managed a $20 million corpus targeting the next generation of
digital news companies. Koreel previously served as General Manager at
BCCL's strategic investment arm, SpringBoard, investing in consumer goods &
services businesses. He has also held senior editorial roles with Bloomberg
TV India and CNBC-TV18, and advised several digital companies on strategy,
product development and fundraising.
Executive Director, The Indian Express Group.
Anant has been passionate about Journalism since an early age. He joined the Express Group in 2012 with two clear objectives: to grow Express’ legacy of hard-hitting independent journalism and its reach in both the print and digital medium. Digital quickly emerged as his pet project and over the past four and half years, the Group has grown from 4 million unique visitors to 52 million unique visitors a month.
Express’ history of investigative journalism continues with the Panama Papers, Isharat Jahan Witness Tutoring Tapes, Chattisgarh Election Fixing Tapes, Essar Leaks, Dadri Lynching and many more stories that have had a significant impact across the country. Its financial daily, The Financial Express, is also recognised for its pathbreaking reportage on the UB Holdings takeover and its consistent coverage on banking and infrastructure.
GQ magazine says Anant is one of India’s 50 most influential young Indians in 2016 and a 2014 profile in Forbes Magazine said Anant exudes the energy that he promises to infuse into the venerable Express brand. Over the past four and half years, indianexpress.com has emerged as India’s 2nd largest newspaper website and the Group one of the 4 largest digital news players. Even in regional media, Loksatta – one of Mumbai’s largest newspapers – has emerged the largest Marathi website in the country.
Before joining the Express, Anant worked at Spenta Multimedia and at Bloomberg’s commercial division at their London office. During his college days, he was a recognised blogger on The Huffington Post and continues to write in The Indian Express- his recent piece on Punjab drugs was quite popular.
He is a Dean's Scholar in print journalism from the Annenberg School of Journalism, Los Angeles, where for two years he was a teaching assistant for the course History of American News Media and for Entertainment News and Society. He is very passionate about aviation and motoring. He enjoys all kinds of live music, especially modern Jazz, and is a pretty terrible drummer himself.
Former Editor - In-Chief, Outlook, India
Krishna Prasad is former Editor-in-Chief of 'Outlook', and a former member of the Press Council of India.
In a 34-year career, Krishna Prasad has worked in four cities, edited two newspapers, and taught journalism on three continents.
Currently adjunct faculty at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) where he teaches social media, he publishes the critically acclaimed media blog IJR (indianjournalismreview.com), and hosts the journalism podcast, J-POD.
He is on Twitter and Instagram @churumuri
Director of Enterprise Sales, comScore, Inc.
Ramanujam is Sales Director, India at Comscore, a leading cross-platform measurement company that precisely measures audiences, brands and consumer behaviour everywhere.
Ramanujam is engaged in new business development and sales expansion for Comscore’s suite of products and services in India. As a member of the Comscore India office, he has been focused on expanding the publisher ecosystem for Comscore.
With more than 15 years of experience across media, technology and real estate, Ramanujam has built new & established brands. Prior to Comscore, he was with Microsoft. He also served as a Brand Manager for The Telegraph & the Head of Marketing for an emerging real estate company. He began his career at DaimlerChrysler.
Ramanujam holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science and an MBA from the Indian School of Business.
Managing Director, Vikatan Group
Mr B Srinivasan (Srini) is the Managing Director of the 93 year old Vikatan Group. This third- generation entrepreneur joined his family business when Vikatan Group was print-only Magazine Publisher, in 1990.
Realising the significance of communities, advent of personalization, emergence of TV mediums and the surge of the Internet, Srini spearheaded Vikatan’s diversification through niche magazines, adopted internet publishing in 1997, went pay in 2005 and trending on social media since 2010 . He also entered content production for TV in 1998 and during the last 2 decades produced continuous #1 rated shows in Tamil. Since 2016, the Vikatan Group has created and curated popular event properties and client-led activations.
Head- Large Partner Solutions, Google
Rahul is Head of Large Partnerships at Google in India. In his role, he brings together the best of Google to partners working closely with leading publishers, developers and platforms to help build profitable digital business. Rahul is a seasoned Googler and has worked across functions starting with sales for tech and telecom verticals, to driving Google Ad Manager stack adoption with top publishers in the county.
Rahul began his career with Hindustan Times and moved to lead sales for National Geographic Channel and History Channel. He made the switch to digital with Yahoo! India leading sales for key verticals. With over 17 years in the Industry, Rahul is an expert in building cross media strategy for brands and is passionate about helping companies go digital.
VP, Commercial Partnerships, APAC, Dow Jones
Joe Martin is Vice President of commercial partnerships at Dow Jones in APAC. He is responsible for driving digital membership growth for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones through strategic partnerships.
Previously, Joe was Senior Relationship Manager for The Wall Street Journal and Financial News based in London where he oversaw the corporate sales operation across EMEA. Joe first started at Dow Jones in 2012 before relocating to Hong Kong in 2015 where he is now based.
CEO, Jagran New Media
Bharat Gupta is the Chief Executive Officer at Jagran New Media (digital arm of the India's Largest Print and Radio Publisher Group, Jagran Prakashan Ltd). With over 100+ Million Users, Jagran New Media (JNM) is amongst the Top Internet Media Groups in India. Bharat has to his credit, 20 years of rich experience in managing and turning around several media businesses across Print, Radio, Ground Activation & Internet. Under his leadership, Jagran New Media is now the fastest growing News and Information Company in the Indian Digi-tal landscape and has received more than 16 awards and recognitions in 2019 itself. The company has also launched India's first Hindi Fact Check Website 'Vishvas.News' in December'18 and has now expanded into 11 Languages.
In addition to his role as CEO, Bharat is also serving as Director to the INMA South Asia Board (International News & Media Association); he is a Governing Council Member at IAMAI (Internet And Mobile Association of India), founding member of Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) and on the board of the esteemed International Fact Checking Network (IFCN). He has also represented Indian digital media publishers at many global industry forums like WAN-Ifra, YouTube Publishers Forum, GNI, and Newsgeist Asia, where he has been actively ideating on Audience and Revenue Growth opportunities for the sectors in the region. In recognition of his achievements he was awarded 'Youth Achievers Award' at the Sixth Global Marketing and Social Media Awards, 2014.
Head of Digital Business, ABP News
Ramakrishnan is the head of digital business at ABP news. He is a Digital management professional with more than 18 years experience starting up Digital Businesses for Media companies in India. He has worked for leading media players in India viz. Mid-Day Multimedia in Mumbai, ABP group in Kolkata and part of the startup team of Publicitas Digital in India. At present he is with ABP News Network since 2008 where he has laid the foundation of the Digital Business in the organization and has within a short span of time made it a leading player in the Indian Digital News ecosystem.
Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer, Jagran New Media
Chief Revenue Officer, Jagran New Media
A sales veteran with over 18 years of experience, out of which 15 years have been with Digital Media. In his current role at Jagran New Media, he drives the Revenue- Strategy, Systems & Programs. His top priority is to accelerate & match revenue growth through Media Sales ,Partnerships, Strategic Alliances, Events & Syndications with the exponential user growth that group sites have been witnessing in last few years. Stickler for perfection, he's been pushing the envelope for driving innovation & value for both external clients and internal stakeholders through pragmatic & holistic monetisation strategies in the ever changing digital ecosystem.
Prior to JNM, Gaurav was associated with Times Internet Limited where he started & scaled multiple businesses including Dynamic pricing based e-commerce platform, Mobile monetisation for all Times Group sites, Native ads platform & Audience sales. Prior to this, he has also worked with HCL Technologies and General Electric. He is a keen follower of tech & lifestyle blogs, loves spending time listening to music & going for long walks .
Editor, The Indian Express
Began his career with Patriot in 1991, moved to India Today after a short stint. He worked there as a news coordinator for five years before joining The Indian Express in 1996.
Has held various editorial responsibilities in the newspaper—from leading the Express News Service, the newspaper's network of correspondents, to heading the edition in Mumbai, before taking over as Assistant Executive Editor in 2002.
Was Executive Editor and Managing Editor before becoming the Editor in 2014.
Unni graduated in Economics from Calicut University and has done his Masters in English Language and Literature from Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala.
He has a PG Diploma in Journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.
He was awarded the Harry Brittain Fellowship of the Commonwealth Press Union in 1999.
Head of Indian Languages, BBC India
Head of Indian Language Services, BBC. Rupa is a highly driven creative media executive and editorial leader with twenty years’ experience of working for the BBC in India, The UK and Nigeria.
Since 2016 she has been building and leading the BBC’s strategically important language operation in India, being responsible for a staff of more than 200 journalists, working in 6 languages and creating content on all platforms.
She has transformed the operation into the highest performing language team in the whole BBC and was awarded the BBC’s “leader of the year” award for her achievements. Rupa brings strengths in journalistic and editorial standards, creativity and dynamic leadership.
She has a long personal track record in TV, Radio and digital journalism but is also a champion of building creative and inspirational working environments
Altnews, Co-Founder
Pratik sinha is a co-founder of AltNews.in. Alt news is an Indian fact checking website. The website was launched on 9 February 2017 to combat the phenomenon of fake news. Sinha has compiled a list of more than 40 of what he describes as fake news sources, most of which he says support right wing views. Pratik Sinha was invited to the Google NewsLab Asia-Pacific Summit to discuss potential solutions to fake news. Since launching the website, he has received threats to his life, demanding that he stop producing content.
Editor, National / Strategic Affairs, The Print & President, SAWM India
Jyoti malhotra is an editor, national and strategic affairs at THE PRINT. She is a print and television journalist, specialising in India's domestic politics as well as its foreign policies, especially in the South Asian sub-continent. She also worked for Indian express and India today and many more.
Editor, NewsX channel
I am working for NewsX channel where I am anchoring a weekly show NO HOLDS BARRED.
In 1979, four decades back, i started my career in Gujarati journalism, became one of youngest editors at 27 in 1986.
Have won Chameli devi Jain award for successfully editing and publishing Abhiyan, Gujarati political weekly.
I have worked for 20 years in print media. 4 years in television media and 16 years as online journalist.
Have taken tv production training
at BskyB in London.
As senior editor in rediff.com i have covered Gujarat riots of 2002, diplomacy, politics and strategic affairs, extensively.
Before joining newsX, i was political editor of the Indian Express.
I have written 18 parts series on 'Deshionu America' after interviewing people of Indian origins in America.
MD & CEO, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., India
Rajiv C. Lochan is the Managing Director and CEO of Kasturi and Sons Ltd., 138-year old publishers of The Hindu and Group publications in India. Prior to The Hindu Group, Rajiv was a Partner with McKinsey & Company and co-founded their Chennai practice. He's active in the social sector in the areas of public health and financial inclusion. He sits on the Board of Governors of the Institute for Financial Management and Research and on the Board of Directors of Sundaram Finance Ltd and IFMR Holdings as an Independent Director. Rajiv holds a BTech from IIT Madras, an MS from MIT and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Editor, Shillong Times
Patricia Mukhim is currently the Editor of The Shillong Times, one of North East India's oldest newspaper and most widely circulated in the State of Meghalaya. Mukhim started her journey as a teacher but has always been a rights activist and has also served on the National Security Advisory Board. She is the recipient of several media awards including the Padmashri in 2000. She is an astute observer on the socio-ecomomic and political issues of India's North East and its varied conflicts and writes columns for several news portals on issues related to the region.
Product Manager, Schibsted Media
Maria Å Lindvall is the product manager of ”Curate”, a part of Schibsted Media platform that enables the largest publications in Sweden and Norway to automate and personalize editorial content on their front pages.
The Curate team consists of developers, UX researchers, journalists and data scientists, collaborating to make sure the different publications can fulfill the journalistic mission as well as deliver on business needs and user needs.
Before joining Curate, Maria Å Lindvall was the product manager of Omni, carrying out four curated news apps in Sweden and Norway.
She has as background as a journalist, and has been the front page online editor of all the four largest news publications in Sweden.
Head of Business, Prothom Alo Digital, Bangladesh
Jabed is a growth hacking marketing communication professional with 11 years of experience in the field of Communications, Brand Management & Digital Business in International and local organizations. He currently heads Prothom Alo Digital Business Unit, the largest digital media portfolio of Bangladesh which enjoys over 55% local revenue market share alone. He is a digital marketing strategist, mentor and trainer. Currently Jabed focuses on bringing alternative revenue streams in digital business. He earned double MBA and BBA with marketing and technology operations from the top business schools of Bangladesh. Throughout the way he has been leading numerous community and voluntary platforms in both local and international level. He is also the Community Manager for Google Developer’s Group Bangla. He represented Bangladesh in the world’s top leadership & knowledge sharing conference in Silicon Valley where his leadership model was instigated globally after it was showcased in front of Google’s Developer community leaders from 110 countries.
CEO, vPhrase
Neerav Parekh is the founder and CEO of vPhrase. Neerav has more than a decade's experience working in different roles and setting up businesses in Technology, Marketing and Finance. After completing his MBA from NMIMS, Neerav worked at Citibank and then co-founded startups in technology and marketing space before founding vPhrase.
Neerav has received the prestigious Leader in Innovation Fellowship from Royal Academy of Engineering UK. He is a thought leader in the areas of business intelligence and data science, is an advisor to institutes teaching data science and regularly speaks at events including those by the Government of India, CII, NASSCOM, ASSOCHAM and more.
Editor and Publisher, The Daily Star, Bangladesh
Mr. Mahfuz Anam is the Editor–Publisher of The Daily Star, the highest selling English newspaper in Bangladesh commanding 75 percent of the English newspaper market. During his Editorship (1993 - till date), The Daily Star has become the most respected and trusted English language newspaper of the country. He pursued a vigorous editorial policy of strengthening democracy, freedom of expression, freedom of media and fundamental rights. His occasional column "Commentary" has gained tremendous popularity among readers.
In 1998, Mr. Anam was made the Publisher and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Mediaworld Limited, the owning company of the paper.
Before co-founding The Daily Star in July 1991, he worked for 14 years with UNESCO from 1977 to December 1990 in various public affairs and media capacities in Paris, New York and Bangkok. His last position with UNESCO was in Thailand, Bangkok as “Regional Media & Public Affairs Representative” for Asia and the Pacific, covering 31 countries from which he resigned in December 1990, returned to Bangladesh, and started this paper.
Mr. Anam holds B. A. Honours and a Masters Degree in Economics from Dhaka University. During his student life, he was the winner of All Pakistan Debating Championship for 3 consecutive years, winning championship in Karachi, Dhaka and Lahore in 1967, 1968 and 1969 respectively.
He started his journalism career in March 1972 and worked as Staff Correspondent of Bangladesh Observer and Assistant Editor of Bangladesh Times before starting his overseas career in 1977. He was awarded Jefferson Fellowship in Journalism in 1976 by the Honolulu based East - West Center. He was given the “Courageous Journalism” Award, 2016, by the East-West Centre, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
He is the founding President of Newspapers Owners Association of Bangladesh (NOAB). He is presently Secretary General of the Editors’ Council of Bangladesh.
Senior Assistant Editor, ABP & Gen. Secretary, SAWM India
Swati Bhattacharjee is Senior Assistant Editor, Editorial Page, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Kolkata. Before this, she was the Chief Reporter-District, ABP, leading a team of about 135 reporters, photographers and sub-editors. She has worked as reporter and as feature writer for ABP and for The Telegraph, in Kolkata and in Delhi.
Swati has a PhD is Social Science from Tata Institute of Social Studies, Mumbai, an MSc in Media Research from University of Stirling, UK, and an MA in Philosophy from Jadavpur University. She was a Fulbright Fellow, 2010-2011, at ALJ Poverty Action Lab, MIT. She received the ICSSR Senior Fellowship, 2012-2014.
Her awards and fellowships in journalism include the “Journalist of Courage and Impact” Award from East West Centre, Hawaii (2018). She received the East-West Centre Jefferson Fellowship (2006), Institute of Development Studies Kolkata fellowship on Health, Nutrition and Public Policy (2004) and Panos Reproductive Health Media Fellowship (1997).
Swati was awarded the UNFPA-Laadli Media Award in 2007, and won the EU-India Essay Contest for Young Journalists in 2005.
Swati is the General Secretary of South Asian Women in Media (SAWM), India chapter, and a member of the Calcutta Press Club.
Content Head & Editor, Amar Ujala Digital
He is currently working as Content head & Editor, Amar Ujala Digital. He is continuously experimenting with different forms of digital content on Web, Mobile and other gadgets.
Jaideep is one of the early adapters of digital media and online content in India. He has practically seen it evolving from primitive dot com days till this recent sloganeering of Digital India. Has seen it from the dial-ups till the 4G all throughout. While working as a print journalist with Naidunia, the reputed Hindi daily from central India, he got the interface to work with Webdunia – pioneer in digital language technology and online content. Journalist at core and working in IT environment, he got the right blend of content and technology at the same time.
Jaideep left his career as management professional due to his passion for journalism. Starting as a trainee Journalist with one of the most reputed Newspaper – Naidunia, he became the youngest Editor of the same and served the chair for more than four years.
Jaideep is a prolific writer who has been expressing his thoughts on subjects of Human interests. As a passionate journalist his articles and editorial comments cover all major International, National and Local issues. Jaideep worked as consultant with Network18 group, leading the IBN Digital team. He has been instrumental in reshaping the premium news sites like - IBNLive, IBNKhabar and News18. Has wide experience across print, digital and TV. Is widely traveled and has attended international seminars of repute.
Director, Digital Skills Agency, Australia
Corinne Podger is a results-driven consultant and training facilitator, through her consultancy, the Digital Skills Agency. She has a proven track record of supporting newsrooms, NGOs and social impact organisations in more than 50 countries to implement digital innovations that grow audiences and support business priorities. Corinne’s expertise draws on more than 30 years in the media industry as a reporter, editor, lecturer and author. Her specialisms include digital-first newsgathering, online verification, mobile journalism, social multimedia production, podcasting and audio storytelling, and strategic audience engagement that drives brand awareness and media revenue. Her clients include WAN-IFRA, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, European Journalism Centre, Thomson Reuters Foundation, BBC Media Action, and ABC Australia. She also works with science and public health organisations to tackle misinformation and disinformation. Corinne teaches on a sessional basis at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne, and speaks regularly at international journalism conferences. She is a firm advocate of media diversity and inclusion in all her work.
Head of Digital, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited
Savan Wijewardene is the Head of Digital at Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, also known as Lake House, Sri Lanka's leading newspaper group. He is also Head of Research at REDHILL Communications, a regional public relations and communications firm based in Singapore.
A graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in New York, his past work spans editorials, newspaper management and start-ups. A founder of Yamu.lk Sri Lanka's largest online content platform, he's been on the frontlines of content creation and communication in an era of rapid digital change. Deeply interested in the business of journalism, he is committed to finding business models that enable high-quality journalism and creative content in a new digital era.
Director - Media Business, Aller Media
Elina Schüller works as a Director of Media Business in Aller Media Finland. The company is a modern media-, marketing- and data company which publishes Finland´s biggest magazine Seiska, runs country´s biggest discussion forum Suomi24 and has been a pioneer in building and commercializing it´s data capability. Elina is focused on developing media products and modernizing ways of work in newsrooms.
Elina has 20 years´ experience in news and magazine media. Prior to Aller Media she worked as a Managing Editor in Ilta-Sanomat, the biggest media in Finland. She has also worked for Iltalehti.
Founder-Editor, DT Next
Yagna Balaji is Founder-Editor of DT Next, an English daily from Tamil Nadu's Daily Thanthi group and the website dtnext.in. She heads the content for the website dtnext.in, as well as the paper’s other social media and online properties.
A journalist with two decades in the field, Yagna was instrumental in the launch of the Deccan Chronicle newspaper in Tamil Nadu in 2005. Under her leadership, Tamil Nadu’s first tabloid, Chennai Chronicle was launched. A decade later in 2015, she once again launched a brand new city-focussed newspaper for Chennai – DT Next. In a short time, DT Next has built a young and loyal readership, and is poised for growth across the state. Investigative reports, hard-hitting stories and a reader-first approach has been instrumental in the paper’s success.
Yagna has led workshops on developing communication skills, and has also been the recipient of awards for articles on developmental journalism. She has served on panels of graduate level media study programs to promote ethical journalism.
Yagna completed her graduation from St Francis College in Hyderabad, and her post-graduation in Journalism & Communication from the Symbiosis, Pune.
About DT Next: DT Next is a daily broadsheet from the 75-year-old Daily Thanthi group, which is circulated in and around Chennai. The group also brings out India's largest circulated Tamil newspaper Daily Thanthi, leading news channel Thanthi TV and the top rated regional radio station Hello FM.
Digital Revenue Head, Republic TV
Varun leads RepublicWorld business (Republic TV digital platform), monetisation, partnerships, operations, strategy, marketing etc. RepublicWorld is completely focused on user experience through cutting edge technology and content diversification. Varun Mohan oversees the company’s overall digital revenue & strategy in India and International. He has also crafted key partnerships across leading telcos and OTT platforms for distribution of linear feed. With his experience, he helps in creating meaningful interactions with advertisers and further establishing the Republic TV brand in the market. He is also associated with Govt of India, Skill India Initiate as a mentor to new age entrepreneurs and start-ups. He is also a guest lecture for “Digital Media” at GL Bajaj Institute of Technology, Bharati Vidyapeeth Management Institute and many more.
Prior to joining Republic TV, Varun played a vital role in setting up new start-ups / verticals in India ie launching and setting up India business for artificial intelligence technology company, Appier Inc, for which he was heading India business. Prior to that Brand Solutions Vertical at Vserv Digital (Mobile ad solutions company), before that Economist Digital Business in India (Economist is one of most preferred global braad) In his rich and eventful 13-year career through his different sales roles he has contributed in the growth of such brands like Appier, Vserv, Economist Online, Microsoft Advertising, afaqs! and Naukri.com.
Pre-Sales Leader, India Media, Akamai Technologies
Times Network
Jignesh is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary with more than 20 years of experience in
Consulting and Media & Entertainment. Currently heading Corporate Strategy and Business
Development at Times Network (the TV arm of Bennett Coleman Company Limited), he is responsible
for Corporate planning, Strategy, Growth and M&A. Prior to this, he worked with UTV where he led
Finance and Strategy for the Broadcasting business of UTV. Post Disney’s acquisition of UTV, he headed
Business Finance, FP&A and Sourcing across the five business verticals of the combined entity i.e.
Motion Pictures, Broadcasting, Content production, Digital and Retail. Jignesh also worked with KPMG,
Muscat providing Tax compliance, planning and business advisory services to domestic and international
clients. Over the past few years, he is active in the start-up ecosystem both as an Investor and a Mentor.
Editor & Co-founder, Himal Media, Nepal
Kanak Mani Dixit is a Nepali publisher, editor and writer. He is the founder of the magazine Himal Southasian and cofounder of Himalmedia.
In 1987, he founded the bimonthly magazine Himal which subsequently became Himal Southasian. He is the author of several children's books and the founder of Film South Asia (FSA), a film festival for documentary films. He also works in spinal injury rehabilitation, public transportation, archiving, and architectural and environmental preservation.[6] He was honored with a Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands in 2009.
Managing Director, Jellyfish India
Alap Ghosh is Managing Director for Jellyfish India. Alap has 19 years of experience, 12 years of which have been in digital marketing. Previously, Alap has worked for agencies GroupM and Komli and adtech solution providers Directi and Enpocket. In his last role, Alap ran his own consultancy, Syntropic Systems, which worked with publishers, broadcasters, ad tech companies and brands, helping them succeed at digital strategy, consumer growth, data strategy, product management and digital transformation. He has converted over 250 brands from vanilla performance buyers to high efficiency, RoI conscious, broad spectrum digital investors. Alap is a certified trainer for advanced digital marketing and is currently a visiting professor for digital marketing at IIM Bangalore.
