MUMBAI: Discovery has announced key appointments in its APAC central corporate leadership team. Former Life OK GM and business head Nikhil Madhok has joined the channel as the senior vice-president (SVP) head of products.
Madhok will spearhead the re-development of the company’s product suite and champion a strong maker culture in the organisation. He will formally join in January 2017, and will closely partner with the innovation team on future digital offerings.
Operating leadership remains with the company’s five market clusters announced earlier in year. The move adds innovative, world-class capabilities and resources to accelerate the company’s stated ambition to evolve from a traditional linear Pay-TV to a true convergent media and entertainment business across market clusters in Asia.
“We are laser focused on re-inventing our existing space and growing our business beyond linear across Asia. The new leadership team members bring with them strong entrepreneurial drive and a disruptive mindset. I am thrilled to welcome them on board as we step up our efforts to redefine our product and business portfolio in the region,” said Discovery Networks APAC president and MD Arthur Bastings.
Other executives who have joined are -- Rebecca Kent as the vice-president (VP) business transformation. Kent will oversee change management, and lead business process and operational optimisation. She joined in September from Discovery’s global business operations team in London.
Darrell Chan joined as the vice-president (VP) regional counsel. He will manage the legal dossier, drive strong governance around Discovery’s growing portfolio of equity stakes in new businesses and coordinate external affairs. Chan will joined on 1 February 2017, from Expedia. He will partner with Dinkim Sailo, who manages Discovery’s external and government affairs brief.
Dinkim recently joined from SOS International.
Karun Arya will now be the director, head of corporate communications, and will represent the company’s voice as it implements its ambitious transformation and investment plans. He came in from Uber.
Discovery’s new executives joined the chief financial officer and SVP corporate operations Nilesh Zaveri, the SVP Innovation Winradit Kasidit Kolasastraseni, the VP corporate development Jonathan Mills, the VP strategy Karan Paul and the VP HR Jin Tan in the APAC HQ team.
