Group Management - OUR PEOPLE
Jeetendra Kapoor, Chairman:
A popular movie star throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Kapoor starred in more than 200 films in a 45 year film career. In his long film career, he won a number of awards including a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, the Legends of Cinema Award and the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award. Mr. Kapoor has been the company’s Chairman since 2000.
His extensive relationships in the Indian entertainment industry have proved to be extremely beneficial for the firm in its formative years, and he continues to open new frontiers for the company. Mr. Kapoor also spearheads the real estate initiatives of the company, such as the state-of-the-art film studio that is being constructed on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Shobha Kapoor, Managing Director:
Mrs. Kapoor has been instrumental in building the company from its small beginnings in 1994 to India’s largest television content company today. From its inception, Mrs. Kapoor has been hands-on in the operational management of the company, controlling on set activity, operational efficiency. Given her wealth of experience, today, she works closely with the Group CEO in helping him discharge his responsibilities. Her stellar work in creating the Balaji organization and brand has resulted in a slew of awards, including CEO of the Year (Indian Telly Awards), Businesswoman of the Year (The Economic Times), and numerous Best Producer awards for television shows produced by Balaji.
Ekta Kapoor, Joint Managing Director:
Ekta Kapoor has almost single-handedly revamped the television landscape in India. She pioneered an entire genre of television content, creating among the most successful shows and heralding the satellite television boom in the country. Balaji’s shows have been channel drivers for broadcasters in India, and even today, have a place in the top 2–3 shows on each channel.
As the creative force behind Balaji’s success, Ekta believes in a hands-on approach to the day-to-day creative direction of each of Balaji’s TV shows and films, routinely putting in 16–18 hour work days. Ekta continues to innovate and move with the rapidly metamorphosing television climate in the country, and is also expanding her unmatched creative vision to the motion picture and new media verticals.
Her stellar work in creating a large content conglomerate at a very young age has garnered her several distinguished awards, including The Economic Times (Businesswoman of the Year 2002), Ernst & Young (Entrepeneur of the Year 2001) and the American Biographical Institute (Woman of the Year 2001), among others. Under her creative guidance, Balaji has also won every major television award in India.
Puneet Kinra, Group Chief Executive Officer:
As Group CEO, Puneet is responsible for all businesses of Balaji including Television, Motion Pictures and New Media. Having hired Puneet from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2008 to define & execute the growth strategy of the Group, Balaji has since hired reputed professionals, restructured existing businesses and entered new businesses in the Media and Entertainment vertical.
In addition, ‘Alt Entertainment’ and ‘Hoonur’ are two more initiatives of the Company that Puneet has spearheaded in the last 2 years.
At PwC, Puneet was responsible for setting up the Corporate Finance and Investment Banking practice in South India. With over 15 years of experience in finance, deal advisory, target search/evaluation, structuring and cross border transactions, Puneet has advised many corporate and private equity players on transactions in Media, Telecom, Real Estate & Infrastructure, Energy, Healthcare, Hospitality, Retail, Pharma, Communications, Technology, FMCG and Manufacturing sectors.
Puneet holds an MBA from The Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), University of New South Wales.
Srinivasa Shenoy, Chief Financial Officer:
Over the past year, Srinivasa has substantially overhauled financial controls, MIS processes, audit systems, computerisation and risk management templates in the firm to a standard comparable to global companies. He has also substantially beefed compliance processes at all levels.
Before Balaji, he was Business Head at Radio Mirchi (India’s largest radio station company), heading the Delhi office. He also has extensive work experience at McDonald’s and PwC. He holds a MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and is a rank holding Chartered Accountant.
Abhijit Nath, Vice-President, Risk & Investments:
Abhijit is responsible for identifying and implementing risk mitigating strategies for all material transactions of the Group. He is deeply involved in new strategic initiatives, especially in the motion picture business wherein every film transaction is analyzed and approved by him.
Abhijit also works with the Group CEO on partnerships, leveraging his past experience of the private equity and strategic finance worlds.
Prior to joining Balaji, Abhijit worked for RREEF, the private equity arm of Deutsche Bank, and ICICI Venture, the largest private equity firm in India, working on investments totalling over $ 300 million. He has also worked in Deutsche Bank in investment banking and global markets.
Abhijit holds a MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and has an undergraduate degree in economics from Delhi University.
L Balaji, Associate Vice President, Group CEO’s Office:
Balaji works closely with the Group CEO on strategic growth initiatives, partnerships and investor relations.
He is involved in benchmarking all businesses, highlighting any variances from approved business plans and working closely with Business Heads on corrective measures.
He has joined Balaji from PricewaterhouseCoopers (Corporate Finance and Investment Banking team) and holds a MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Ashish Gharde, Chief People Officer:
Ashish Gharde heads Human Resources for the group and has been deeply involved in the corporatisation of group practices, including an HR manual and annual Performance Management System.
A professional with past media experience, Ashish has headed HR at Radio City, the radio arm of the Star group. He also has 8 years experience with the Tatas, where he spearheaded various HR initiatives across the steel, telecom and VSNL.He holds a MBA from Symbiosis.
Rohit Chopra, Chief Legal Officer:
Rohit heads the legal function for the group. At Balaji, he has built up a strong team of legal professionals, introduced best practices from global peers, and significantly strengthened legal and compliance processes.
Prior to joining Balaji, Rohit was the general counsel at Reliance ADAG’s broadcasting practice, and legal head at ESPN India. He comes with strong experience of over 13 years, and holds a LLB from Punjab University.
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