Synopsis
This is the story of a boy from an obscure, remote town in India who reaches the highest rung of a glitzy media corporate house. He believes that his story would provide inspiration, confidence, and hope to any middle-class Indian child aspiring to reach the top. The story is intertwined between his life and the media. It sheds some light on the backrooms of the media, about which people are curious but little is known.
5:15 PM Registration & Hi-Tea
6:00 PM Welcome Address
Mr K Mahalingam
President MMA & Partner/Director, TSM Group of Companies
Opening Remarks & Introduction of the Author
Mr Dhruba Mukherjee CEO, ABP Pvt Ltd
Launch of the Book “Headline: Memoir of a Media CEO” and Address by the Author Programme
Mr D D Purkayastha
Author & Global Media Leader and Former MD & CEO, ABP Pvt Ltd
Mr L V Navaneeth
CEO, The Hindu
In conversation with the Author
Mr D D Purkayastha
Q & A
7:25 PM
Vote of Thanks
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM
Executive Director
Madras Management Association
Mr D D Purkayastha
Author & Global Media Leader and Former MD & CEO, ABP Pvt Ltd
Mr. Purkayastha has had a long and distinguished career in the media industry spanning over four decades He is a graduate in Physics and a Cost Accountant. He joined ABP in 1979 to head the IT functions at a time when rapid changes in technology were transforming the publishing industry. He led this initiative and successfully embedded cutting edge technology in areas as diverse as editorial, advertising, circulation and manufacturing. He conceptualized and marketed ABP’s annual mega event ‘INFOCOM”, which has become India’s largest ICT exposition in a very short time.
In the years that followed, he honed his skills in many disciplines. He headed the finance function for more than a decade. He was given the responsibility of overseeing the operations of the company when he joined the Board and designated as Chief Operating Officer in 2001. He was elevated as Managing Director & CEO in 2008.He oversaw the strategy and operations of the ABP Group which included Newspapers, Magazines, FM Radio and News Television. ABP’s News Television business covered the heartland of India in five languages with an unparalleled reach.
He is currently on the Board of WAN-IFRA and in its 5 Member Nominating Committee, and was a Board member of INMA, the two largest global media associations. He was also the Deputy President of the Indian Newspaper Society and a Director of Media Research Users Council
He was the MD & CEO of ABP Private Limited for 14 years and retired in 2021 and is presently a non-executive Director of the Company
Mr. Purkayastha has deep knowledge of the industry and, above all, values and skills that have helped him flourish in a highly competitive environment. He shared ABP’s belief in the key role that customer and people play in the success of an organization and was committed to focus on this even more strongly.
Mr Dhruba Mukherjee
CEO, ABP Pvt LtdMr Dhruba Mukherjee joined ABP in 1997 and currently is the Chief Executive Officer of the organization. He joined as a management trainee and during his career in ABP spanning over two decades he has handled responsibilities in brand management, audience development, advertisement sales and production functions before taking over as CEO.
Born and brought up in Calcutta and a die hard Calcuttan at heart, he is a B.Com (Hons) from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta; MBA from IISW&BM under Calcutta University and an alumnus of London School of Economics & Political Science. He has also graduated from the Senior Executive Leadership Program of the Harvard Business School. Travel, food and sports are some of the things that excites him beyond his interest areas in work
Mr L V Navaneeth CEO, The Hindu
Mr Navaneeth has over two decades experience in the Media Industry across the Publishing, Radio, Broadcasting and Media Agency verticals. He has gained varied and useful insights; thanks to working for traditional brands with heritage and enviable lineage, setting up a new business with an entrepreneurial outlook, working with entertainment brands that established market leadership positions in a reasonably short span of time and being part of businesses where the only constant is change.
Between October 2015 and March 2016, he took a break from regular work for about 6 months, During this time, he learnt Digital Marketing through formal education. He also used this time to consult a couple of start-ups in the Food and Beverage space apart from keeping his skills updated by teaching. He worked in Jakarta, Indonesia between March 2016 and May 2019 before coming back home to The Hindu Group.
Across the media sectors, he has hands-on experience and acquired expertise in the areas of General Management, Sales and Marketing, Brand Management, Media Planning and Buying, Events Creation & Management, New Product/Brand/Business Development, and Content Creation, Development & Scheduling. His work experience so far has been a good mix of left and right brain activity. While he is passionate about pursuing relevant, compelling and differentiated solutions; all his learnings are from an ability to dispassionately engage with data and analytics to make relevant decisions.
