Business News
NEERAJ KHEMLANI NAMED EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & DEPUTY GROUP HEAD, HEARST ENTERTAINMENT & SYNDICATION
Friday 04. March 2011 - Hearst Corporation announced today that Neeraj Khemlani has been named executive vice president & deputy group head of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, effective immediately.
The announcement was made by Frank A. Bennack, Jr., vice chairman and chief executive officer of Hearst Corporation, and Scott M. Sassa, president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication.
Khemlani joined Hearst in March 2009 as vice president and special assistant to the CEO for digital media, Hearst Corporation, reporting directly to Bennack. He succeeds George Kliavkoff who has transitioned into his position as CEO of Manilla, a Hearst-backed free personal account management service that helps consumers manage all of their household accounts in one place online.
“Neeraj has been an integral part of Hearsts digital expansion and innovation over the last two years,” Bennack said. “He is accelerating our digital transformation progress and is a great resource to all of Hearsts diverse divisions as they introduce new digital expressions of their brands. Neeraj will now be a great asset to Scotts Group and help drive its focus on diversifying Hearsts asset portfolio over the long term through building and buying new businesses.”
“Neeraj is a unique individual with a combination of world-class traditional media experience, having been a producer at 60 Minutes, and world-class new media experience from his time at Yahoo!, where he was a content head,” Sassa said. “He has a rare mix of talent as creative producer on a number-one TV show and success working at a top, fully-scaled consumer website. We expect to tap into his knowledge to create new growth opportunities for Hearst.”
“Hearst has an extraordinary team of creative professionals in all of its diverse businesses,” Khemlani said. “And the company is positioned for growth with reserves to pursue smart opportunities. It has been a pleasure to work across the company on digital initiatives. I am excited to join Scott and his team to continue pushing forward on developing content and media that drive value in todays multiplatform world as well explore the e-commerce frontier for the division.”
Khemlani was formerly vice president and general manager of Yahoo! News & Information as well as Yahoo! Originals. In this position, he managed the business and products of Yahoo! News, Tech, Weather and Education, and the editorial programming for Yahoo! Finance, as executive editor. He also directed original content programming, including product design, content production and sponsorship, across all Yahoo! channels; and initiated and oversaw strategic business development content deals with major media companies.
From 1998 to 2006, Khemlani was a producer for CBS News’ 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II, and a creative consultant to Imagine Entertainment, ABC Entertainment, from 2000 to 2001, where he advised scriptwriters. His television experience also includes producer positions with Crile Communications and ABC News, where he produced segments for Nightline, Good Morning America, Peter Jennings Reporting and ABC News Specials. Khemlani began his career as a newspaper reporter, stringing for The New York Times and The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y.
Khemlani holds a master’s of science in journalism from Columbia University, where he graduated with honors, and a bachelor’s in communications from Cornell University, where he was the editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun.