After Star India, Viacom18 announces top management changes

Creates new position of chief of staff to be held by Narayan Ranjan; Soumen Ray to take over as the new CFO

A day after Star India announced a rejig in its corporate structure, Sudhanshu Vats-led media and entertainment company Viacom18, announced the appointment of Narayan Ranjan to a new and strategic role of chief of staff — Viacom18. Ranjan was earlier the CFO of the company. In his new role, he would be responsible for mergers and acquisition, internal audit, internal control as well as the admin function while continuing work on improving group level governance.

Ranjan’s previous post will now be occupied by Soumen Ray, who has been promoted to chief financial officer of the company. Ray joined the company as deputy CFO in 2013. 

Both the managerial changes have been made with effect from April 15, 2016.

Commenting on the management restructuring, Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, said, “With a 30X growth in topline since inception, we are one of India’s fastest growing M&E companies. As we gear up for a more streamlined growth phase, it is imperative to align our corporate functions so that we can leverage both the experience and the expertise that our leaders possess. Narayan Ranjan, one of our more experienced and senior leaders, will now take on a more strategically aligned role that streamlines our business and administrative processes across the ever-growing brands of Viacom18. Soumen Ray, who as the Deputy CFO, has been pivotal in streamlining the network’s financial performance, will now take over as the chief financial officer.”

Ranjan had joined Viacom18 twelve years back to head the finance function after having successfully managed critical roles within the broadcast industry and outside and was part of the team that forged this JV back in 2007. He has been a recipient of numerous awards including the “CFO100” awards in 2016 and 2015; winner of 100 “Most Influential CFOs in India” award in 2015 and the “Best Finance Team of the Year” award in 2015 by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

With close to 2 decades of experience in financial planning, Soumen Ray had joined Viacom18 three years ago after successful stints at HUL, ITC and Eveready Industries. A chartered accountant by qualification, Ray has played a pivotal role in the network’s meteoric growth, over the last few years.