MUMBAI: Facebook has brought on board Paras Sharma, Francis Jose and Manohar Hotchandani beef up its growing partnership team in India.
With an overall aim for driving better value for business partners, these new additions with extensive experience in technology, telecom, media and entertainment, will help lead strategic partnerships and initiatives to support Facebook’s continued growth in India.
All three will report to Manish Chopra, director and head, partnerships, Facebook India. “We are proud to expand our team with the addition of Francis Jose, Manohar Hotchandani and Paras Sharma – who are not only leading industry talents but also share Facebook’s passion to create unique experiences that drive business value for our partners and bring the world closer together,” Chopra said.
Sharma will be the director for media partnerships and lead the charter across news, entertainment, sports and music verticals for both Facebook and Instagram.
With over 23 years of experience, Sharma has worked in a leading role across global media organisations such as Viacom CBS Asia, Fox International Channels and ESPN Star Sports.
He has worked across various functions including media, creative, content production, acquisition and programming, OTT platforms, marketing and business management and has led teams in diverse regions including India, SEA, China and Japan, with a focus on expanding to newer markets, creating localised programming and new programs; to grow audiences and engagement across linear and digital platforms.
Hotchandani joins as director, business development and will be working across multiple opportunities in India, with a keen focus on growing gaming, commerce, AR/VR.
He joins Facebook from Amazon where he led the Alexa voice service (AVS) business post a long stint at Microsoft across multiple roles.
Jose has been appointed as the director, mobile and connectivity partnerships for India and will drive engagements across the Telecom, ISP and Mobile devices industries in India. He joins Facebook from Samsung India Electronics.
