Ganesh Rajaram
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GANESH RAJARAM 10 Raeburn Park ● #03-01 Telephone: (65) 63077225 Email: [email protected] Block A ● Singapore 088702 Career Profile More than 20 years of experience in fast-paced, revenue-oriented competitive local, regional and international media environments with FremantleMedia, SPH Mediaworks, MediaCorp Singapore and Singapore Press Holdings. • Currently Executive Vice President, Asia for Fremantlemedia. Fremantlemedia is one of the biggest independent producers and distributors of content across the world. Fremantlemedia produces and distributes some 19,000 hours of programmes to broadcasters in 150 countries worldwide. These include major new series such as the ground-breaking Idols franchise, including the hugely successful American Idol as well as some of America’s most successful reality programmes, The Apprentice. Project Runway, X Factor USA etc. • Responsible for revenues of over USD$20 million annually across the whole of Asia – covering all main business lines for Fremantlemedia. Increased the sales turnover in Asia by more than five fold since setting up the Fremantlemedia International office in Singapore in March 2005. • Extensive contacts and acute understanding of the local markets has led to co-production initiatives in Asia. • Actively involved in sourcing and distributing content from within Asia. Excellent relationships with all the major broadcasters in Asia. • Prominent in the Asian Television market, regular speaker/moderator at the Asian Television Forum as well as attendee at regional markets such as the Shanghai and Beijing Television markets. A regular attendee at all the International markets such as MIPTV, MIPCOM and NATPE. Ganesh Rajaram Page 1 Confidential • Acknowledged nationally and regionally for ground breaking efforts in channel programming and doubling network ratings in a difficult competitive environment. Experienced in the intricacies of setting up TV stations, network programming, product marketing, public relations and communications, mergers and acquisitions, post-merger integrations and human capital management. • Personal network includes high-level management executives in the regional and international TV industry, communications industry and government bodies. Highly seasoned in cross-cultural negotiations and relationship building, multilingual abilities include fluency in English, French, Tamil, Malay and Bahasa Indonesia. Ability to understand and speak basic Chinese and Cantonese (a dialect widely used in Hong Kong). • Appointed to the Singapore Infocomm Media Masterplan 2025 Working Committee in June 2013. • Appointed to the Board of the Media Development Authority in Singapore for a 2 year term commencing January 2011. Re- appointed to a further two year term in January 2013. And re-appointed again to a further 2 year term in January 2015. • Appointed to the Media Convergence Review Panel for Singapore in March 2012. • Appointed to the Public Service Broadcast (PSB) Review Panel in 2010. • Member of the SG50 Environment and Infrastructure Committee in 2014 to 2015. • Member of the SG50 Celebration Fund evaluation committee in 2014 to 2015. Ganesh Rajaram Page 2 Confidential Areas of Expertise Strategic Planning Strategic Partnerships International Negotiations Start-ups / Mergers Network Programming Budgeting/Forecasting Margin Improvement Revenue Enhancement Institutional Marketing Cross-cultural Relationship Building International Sales and Setting up of Marketing distribution networks Public Relations and across Asia Communications Benchmarks & Distribution and Sales. Milestones • Increased turnover by more than 5 times since starting the Asian office for Fremantlemedia International in Singapore in March 2005. • Set up a joint venture in China (first of its kind for a foreign distribution company) that saw Fremantlemedia content syndicated in programming blocks across Chinese stations. Sat on the board of this Joint Venture. • Achieved more than 100% growth in Asia’s fastest growing markets - China and India and new emerging markets such as Sri Lanka and Vietnam. • Forged strategic relationships with broadcasters and government funding houses so as to develop content for the international marketplace. • Forged strategic relationships with the top production partners in Asia – privy to the hottest and latest concepts and programming. Television Programming and Production: Quantifiable track record of ratings growth, revenue gain and expense reduction. Doubled primetime viewership for English network from 10% to 20% of the prime-time English entertainment market share in one year; . Created and implemented innovative revenue- sharing programming initiatives with ESPN and MTV networks. This included one of the very Ganesh Rajaram Page 3 Confidential first VH1 blocks on a terrestrial channel in Asia. Conceived targeted programming that competitors talk about and try to emulate. Introduced innovative programming that produced strong loyalty and sustainable results among the lucrative Professionals Managers Executives Businessmen (PMEB) viewers . Captured 45% share of the lucrative and loyal PMEB viewership with targeted programming on the English language channel, Channel i. Conceived programming initiatives such as the PGA Tour that included sponsorship packages for PMEB-oriented premium brands. Conceived and supervised award-winning programs and branding campaigns. Helped conceptualize the award-winning Channel i News daily bulletin – it won Best News Program Award in the Television Asia Awards 2002. Supervised promotional and branding campaigns for both English and Chinese channels – Channel U and Channel i – that have won more than 30 awards at the Promax Awards over three years. Blend a can-do management style with tenacity and team leadership. Exceeded programming targets set during economic downturn. Pioneered customised programming packages for big spending institutional clients and advertisers. Maintained revenue and employee retention Ganesh Rajaram Page 4 Confidential during merger transition period. Part of high-level task force ensuring a smooth handover of multi- million dollar product inventory from SPH Mediaworks to MediaCorp TV Holdings in January 2005. Employment Executive Vice President, Asia FremantleMedia (March 2005 to Present) Overall responsibility for distribution, home entertainment and format sales operations across Asia. SPH Mediaworks (September 2000 to February 2005) Vice President, Programming SPH Mediaworks was a Free To Air Television set up by media conglomerate Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) in the year 2000. Responsible for running the English Network Channel i. MediaCorp TV ( February 1996 to August 2000) Executive Producer MediaCorp is the national broadcaster in Singapore . It runs six terrestrial television channels in various languages. Singapore Press Holdings (1992 to 1995) Award-winning Sports Columnist & Journalist SPH is the media company behind newspapers like the English national daily The Straits Times. Education Harvard Business School Advanced Management Programme 3rd September 2014 to 23rd October 2014 Master of Arts, International Communication Macquarie University (January 1995 to June 1996) [Sydney, Australia] Thesis topic: Role of the Media in Singapore’s Development. Bachelor of Arts in Political Science University of Calgary (September 1988 to April 1992) [Calgary, Canada] Emphasis: International Relations Ganesh Rajaram Page 5 Confidential National Service with the Singapore Armed Forces (March 1986 to September 1988) General Certificate Examinations ‘A’ Levels Raffles Junior College (January 1984 – December 1985) [Singapore] Professional • Appointed to the Singapore Infocomm Media Activities Masterplan 2025 Working Committee in June 2013. • Appointed to the Board of the Media Development Authority in Singapore for a 2 year term commencing January 2011. Re- appointed to the Board on January 2013 for a further two years. And re-appointed again for a further 2 year term commencing January 2015. • Appointed to the Media Convergence Review Panel for Singapore in March 2012. • Appointed to the Public Service Broadcast Review Panel from October 2010 to March 2012. • Appointed to the SG50 Environment and Infrastructure Committee 2014 – 2015. • Appointed to the SG50 Celebration Fund Evaluation Committee. Guest lecturer (journalism) at the School of Film and Media Studies, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. Advisor to Nanyang Polytechnic’s Diploma in Media Studies & Management, Singapore. Speaker, panelist at the Asian Factual Forum 2007, Asian Television Forum - 2005 and 2006, Malaysian Media Forum 2008, Korean Broadcasting Content Promotion Foundation 2009, Content Asia Forum 2011, China Documentary Festival 2009. Board Member – Vision Ventures Ltd, a Joint Venture Company in China, 2009 to 2011. Ganesh Rajaram Page 6 Confidential Languages Spoken/Written English, Malay, Tamil (Speak Fluently). French, Mandarin (Speak a little but understand well). English and Tamil (Speak and Write fluently). Family Married to Ovidia Lim Cheng Lien, Chief Communications Officer at the National University of Singapore and we have a 16-year-old son, Kieran. References Available upon request. Ganesh Rajaram Page 7 Confidential .