Indian Media Leaders eSUMMIT 2022

Akanksha Saxena is an award-winning international journalist currently working as an editor with Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. She has more than 10 years of experience as a journalist with major broadcasting networks like the BBC and TRTWorld.

Arpan is a Digital transformation & growth specialist with achievements in building & driving growth in Digital business across platforms.

Dr. Bhaskar Das in a career spanning over 3 decades has rendered an integrated exposure including line function, profit center & brand management. From a management trainee in 1980 to progressing as President, Response of BCCL and subsequently with ZEE Media Corporation as Group CEO, has been an accomplishing feat.

Debarati Guha is Director Programs for Asia at Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster. Born in Kolkata, India, her parents are originally from Bangladesh. Hailing from a family of freedom fighters, historians, and activists, she developed a fighting spirit and an interest in politics at an early age. Ms. Guha did her master’s and M.Phil. in political science at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her thesis was titled, ‘Representation of Women in Postcolonial Literature: Exploring the Subaltern Studies Perspective.’

As a journalist, she never misses out on an opportunity to tell exciting stories about women’s lives and the challenges they face. Debarati Guha worked as an assistant to the Asia correspondent of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in New Delhi from 2003 to mid-2005. Later, she completed a training program in online, radio, and television journalism at DW and joined its Bengali department as a senior editor in 2007. After working as the coordinating editor for Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu departments from 2009 to 2012, she was appointed as head of DW’s Bengali service in 2013.

In 2015, Ms. Guha was given the responsibility to run DW’s South and Southeast Asian services. In 2018, she was promoted to head DW’s Asia Department, and in 2021, she was given the charge of three additional offices in Asia – in Taipei, Delhi, and Jakarta – as the Director of Programs for Asia. Debarati Guha currently manages DW’s nine Asian language programs as well as its German and English desks. In 2022, she completed the prestigious Executive Management Program organized by the European Broadcasting Union. She also conducts workshops and seminars on ‘Digital Leadership,’ ‘Future of Digital Media,’ and similar subjects.

Apart from journalism, Ms. Guha works as a researcher and as a performer with a Berlin-based theatrical company Flinnworks. She has been living in Germany since 2005.

Mr. Dhruba Mukherjee joined ABP in 1997 and currently is the Chief Executive Officer of the organization.

Durga Raghunath is the Head of News Partnerships for India at Google. She was previously the Digital Head of The Times of India building product experiences catering to the millions of global India news-users.

As Chief Product Officer, Gaurav is driving the vision, strategy, design, development and monetization of SPH Media’s (formerly Singapore Press Holdings) products.

Harrish M Bhatia is currently President – Sales & Marketing at Dainik Bhaskar Group. He is one of the most respected corporate business leaders, opinion maker and author in the media sector. In his illustrious career of 38 years has created significant value in large corporations i.e. Korean multinational corporation LG Electronics Ltd, JVC-

Harsha Mathew is a Chief Resident Editor and Director at Malayala Manorama Company Ltd. Prior to this, he was a Business Development Associate at News Corporation, New York where he played a key role in internal financial restructuring and potential deals.

Kunal Pradhan is Managing Editor of Hindustan Times, and heads the Delhi and NCR editions of the newspaper.

Mohit Jain, is the Chief Operating Officer (Publishing) & member of the Board of Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL). He also represents BCCL on the Board of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), an industry

Parikshit Bhardwaj heads content and strategy at Jagran New Media (digital arm of the india’s largest print and radio publisher group. Jagran Prakashan Ltd). He leads jagranjosh.com, India’s leading education portal with 30 million+ users/month. He is a seasoned content professional with 16+ years of rich experience in creating solutions for new-age learners.

Pradyuman Maheshwari is a senior editor and media commentator having worked with a variety of media entities for over 35 years. He has worked with The Indian Express, Mid-Day (where he was Editor and also Head of Interactive Services), the Sakal group in Pune, the now-defunct DNA where he was on the Editorial Board and Senior Editor, and Group Chief Editor, exchange4media.com. He turned entrepreneur 12 years back with MxMIndia, a web-based publication tracking the media and advertising. He is also a serial entrepreneur, and in addition to various other things is also editing an online magazine for senior citizens.

His first tryst with the digital media was in 1996 when he set up the website for Mid-Day’s coverage of the World Cup. Since then he has been active on the internet space having set up Mid-Day Interactive and then with the leadership team of Aptech Internet. He has been on the jury of the Advertising Club Bombay’s interactive categories for over a decade and is also an academic associated with many educational institutes. He is on the Consumer Complaints Council of the Advertising Standards Council of India since 2016 and is one of the early evangelists of the internet and convergence.

He toggles between Pune, Mumbai and Delhi with his wife, daughter and many digital devices.

Rajiv Beotra previously the head of English business at HT Media has been elevated to Executive Director and will be in charge of revenue, advertising and distribution. Beotra who joined HT Media in 2016.

Ritu Kapur is the co-founder of Quint. She used to head Programming at History Channel, was Features Editor at CNN IBN, where she launched the popular CJ (Citizen Journalist) Show, among others. She has also conceived and produced Bhanwar, a docu-drama based on real-life incidents. Her shows ran to popular and critical acclaim, and went on to win several awards. She has also led successful campaigns like Register To Vote and Power Of 49, that championed a manifesto for women, who comprise 49 per cent of the population.

Stig Ørskov is the CEO of JP/Politiken Media Group and Vice President of WAN-IFRA. JP/Politiken Media Group is one of the leading media organizations in the Nordics. The organization manages a portfolio of several national news brands, local and global niche media, book publishing and streaming activities, and Denmark’s largest last mile distribution enterprise. The group employs approx. 3,000 people with revenues of 500 million euro in 2022.

Over twenty years experience in marketing, advertising and media management. Have been associated with the Jang Group since 1993.

Described as one of Pakistan’s marketing thought leaders, have served as the President of the Marketing Association of Pakistan for three terms.

Tor Jacobsen is the SVP for Consumer and subscriptions at Schibsted, and is heading the subscription revenue across the brands. Schibsted has seen a tremendous growth in subscription the last few years, and just passed 1 million digital subscribers. Tor has worked in several roles in Schibsted, and has also earlier experience from telecom and consulting.