ZEE's Amit Goenka, Umesh Bansal: Who are the top leaders after Punit Goenka shuffles ranks?
Punit Goenka himself will assume direct charge of all the critical business verticals including the Domestic Broadcast Business.
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Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) had earlier proposed the streamlining of the organisation structure. The company on April 17 approved the plan. Subsequently, key team members across businesses of the organisation have been promoted as part of the new structure. Goenka himself will assume direct charge of all the critical business verticals including the Domestic Broadcast Business. The top-level shuffle comes close on the heels of key exits of Punit Misra and Rahul Johri. Johri was President of Business at ZEEL and Misra was the President of Content and International Markets. Misra also oversaw content for both the TV network of ZEE as well as its digital offering ZEE5, both domestically and globally. He also managed ZEEL’s international business spanning 190 countries.
In the new "lean" structure, Amit Goenka will continue to lead the Digital Business for the Company, taking direct charge of original content (including movies). He will assume additional charge of the International Broadcast Business, Enterprise Technology and Broadcast Operations & Engineering. Goenka is the brother of Punit Goenka and son of Subhash Chandra, chairman of Essel Group. His first foray into technology was with Cyquator Technologies Ltd. The company specialised in web-hosting and e-solutions. Goenka has also worked at online lottery firm Playwin and Zee Learn. He became the head of the International Broadcast Business of ZEEL in 2014 and the infrastructure head for Essel Group.
Umesh Bansal is currently the executive vice president - MD and CEO’s office at ZEEL. Post the rejig, he will now lead the Movies business for the company, again, reporting to MD and CEO. Bansal joined Essel Group in 2015 as the vice president for the group chairman’s office and joined ZEEL in 2016 as the head of the network content engine. In his stint, he has led Zee Studios in Jaipur, led the business and content production and led all commercials as well. Prior to ZEEL, Bansal had a short stint at ANZ as country business manager. He has also worked at Axis Bank for eight years where he grew to become the head of group strategy and chief of staff to the MD and CEO.
The top-level changes will also see other leaders get expanded mandates and bigger goals.
Anurag Bedi will continue to lead the Music business and enhance the vertical’s contribution to the Company’s bottom-line. He is currently the chief business officer of Zee Music Company. He has been with ZEEL since 2007, having completed over a decade at the organisation. Prior to this, Bedi had been with Star India for almost seven years since 2000.
Siju Prabhakaran, who is currently responsible for the South cluster of channels will take additional responsibility of the West cluster. Prabhakaran joined ZEEL back in 2000 and has now been with the company for more than two decades. He has led many business units at the org including sales, Zee Kannada and Zee Tamil.
Samrat Ghosh, who currently leads the East cluster of channels, will take additional responsibility of the North and Premium cluster. Ghosh too has been with the company for over two decades, having joined in 2000. Ghosh has also led the business for Zee5 during his stint at ZEEL.
Ruchir Tiwari leads the Hindi Movies cluster of the company and will continue to do so. He joined ZEEL back in 2003, completing two decades in the industry. Over the years, Tiwari has managed the Hindi movies cluster including Zee Cinema, Zee Classic and &Pictures. He is now the chief cluster officer for Hindi movie channels, film licensing and syndication.
Vishnu Shankar will continue to lead &TV and the FTA segment. Shankar joined ZEEL in 2010 as business head for Zing and Zee ETC Bollywood. Prior to this, he worked at ZOOM Entertainment Networks as the programming head for Zoom Television. According to his LinkedIn, Shankar started his career at B4U Television Networks as head of global programming and content.
Ashish Sehgal will be responsible for Integrated Advertisement Sales for the Broadcast and Digital business. Sehgal has been with ZEEL for over a decade since joining in 2006, and has served in the sales unit at the start as chief sales officer, Sehgal then shifted to Zee Unimedia where he grew to become the chief growth officer. Prior to ZEEL, he had an almost six year long stint at Star India as vice president.
