MUMBAI: Star has promoted Uday Shankar to CEO and Jadgish Kumar as COO of Star India. The announcement was made by Star CEO Paul Aiello, who has also been serving as CEO of Star India.
With immediate effect, Shankar who joined Star India as COO in May 2007 will assume the CEO role, responsible for Star’s overall business in India. Shankar will report to Aiello.
Kumar, who is currently senior vice president finance, based in HK, will join Star India as COO. Kumar will report to Shankar and work closely with him in optimizing operational efficiencies and driving the company’s growth agenda.
Aiello said, “Uday’s promotion is a recognition of the important contributions he has made to the growth and strategic development of Star India since he joined the company. His leadership, business acumen and vision will serve as invaluable assets as Star India strengthens its core operations and expands its services with a number of new initiatives.”
“Jagdish has been with the company in Hong Kong and in India for more than 12 years, serving in a number of capacities including finance, platforms and corporate affairs. He has proven himself a highly skilled executive with in-depth knowledge of the complexities of this business and he will be counted upon heavily as we grow our business in India,” he added.
Aiello continued, “We have a commendable team in place, featuring some of the best talents in the television industry and I am confident that under Uday’s leadership, Star India will accelerate its growth in this burgeoning market.”
Prior to joining Star India, Shankar served as CEO of Star joint venture MCCS for over three years. Before that, Shankar was the editor and news director at India Today and was responsible for launching channels like Aaj Tak and Headlines Today. He was also responsible for launching the news division of Sahara TV.
Kumar joined Star in 1995 as Star India’s CFO, and has held a number of titles, including senior vice president, finance at the company’s HQ in Hong Kong since 2004 and vice president, digital platform group in Mumbai from 2001 to 2004. Prior to joining Star, Kumar was with ITC for eight years in a number of roles.
