Walt Disney International announced that Mahesh Samat will return to his leadership role of The Walt Disney Company India as Managing Director. Samat will resume management of all Disney businesses in India (except ESPN), with all local business segments reporting to him. Samat succeeds Siddharth Roy-Kapur, who is moving on to explore his own business interests.

Samat will have responsibility for setting and driving The Walt Disney Company’s strategy, coordinating all business efforts in India, including overseeing Disney global franchises in the market, expanding existing businesses, and creating new business opportunities.

“Mahesh guided Disney in India in its early days, and we are thrilled with his decision to return to the organisation he helped build,” said Andy Bird, Chairman, Walt Disney International.

Four years back, Samat quit Disney India to establish Epic Television Networks and was founder and managing director of The Epic Channel, a Hindi entertainment channel (HD) focused on history, folklore and mythology-based content.

With more than 25 years of experience in FMCG and Healthcare across India, Asia-Pacific and Europe, Samat originally joined Disney from Johnson & Johnson. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, he worked for Kellogg’s, Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis, and Boots India Ltd.

Sanjay Dubey appointed Senior Sales Director, Vertoz

Ad tech company Vertoz announced the appointment of Sanjay Dubey as its Senior Sales Director – India. He joins Vertoz from Vubites - Rediff.com where he was Director of Sales. Prior to Rediff, he was with Network 18 where he held the role of Deputy General Manager. In the past, he has also worked with Infomedia India as its National Product Manager.

Besides his role of sales and blending business, he will help the company in managing and scaling operations internationally and help develop the brand and product with global technology to Indian operations.

Ashish Shah, Founder & CEO, Vertoz, said Dubey’s “pan India experience, deep knowledge over building and launching of products, and the unique blend of technological and management skills will strengthen our services and offerings and help to fill the void in the Indian market.” Dubey is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta and a B Sc graduate from the University of Mumbai.

Among the key areas where Dubey will be actively involved is setting up of the MSME segment business in India.

“Vertoz possesses all the abilities to spread the concept of programmatic advertising aggressively globally as well as in India. Vertoz’s programmatic plex provides the perfect platform to support clients looking to connect with potential and existing customers digitally in India and worldwide,” said Dubey.

Hari Trivedi, COO, Best Deal TV

Best Deal TV, a celebrity-driven 24/7 home shopping channel, has appointed Hari Trivedi as Chief Operating Officer with immediate effect. Based in Mumbai, Trivedi will be responsible for overall sales and marketing at Best Deal TV. He will also be initialising lowest price offers and deals on Best Deal TV for its users.

Trivedi until recently spearheaded Naaptol.com as president.

Prior to this, he was associated with Aksh Optifibre as Head of IPTV business.

Speaking on his appointment Raj Kundra, Founder CEO, Best Deal TV, said, “Hari has been in the industry for over 30 years and has oodles of experience in home shopping, E-commerce and E- governance platforms. We believe his experience will do wonders for Best Deal TV.”

Trivedi said, “I see myself as contributing to the overall growth of the e-commerce industry.”

Trivedi is acknowledged as an expert in managing retail, sales and software development for e-commerce. He is famously known as the Godfather of Readers offers in India which has now become an industry in itself.