NEW YORK, USA — Global media company Condé Nast has announced the appointment of Sandeep Lodha as the new Managing Director of India, officially assuming the role in July. Sandeep replaces Alex Kuruvilla, who announced earlier this year that he would be stepping down from the managing director role and transitioning to a new role within the company as Non-executive Chairman.
In his new role, Sandeep will oversee all aspects of Condé Nast’s business across all brands in India. An IIT-Delhi alumnus with an MBA from Wharton, Sandeep most recently served as the CEO of the music streaming app Gaana, where he re-established the company’s leadership in the industry by pivoting from a mostly free music streaming model to a paid-only model enabling a sustainable turnaround of the business. During his leadership at Gaana, the company saw substantial user growth, as well as an increase in user retention, engagement, and subscriptions. Sandeep will be based in Condé Nast’s Mumbai office.
“I’m thrilled to be working closely with Sandeep as we look to expand our client relationships in this important market. Sandeep’s deep experience in retail and consumer products, as well as his technological and engineering background, make him the perfect person to lead business growth in India, where we are focused on not only our globally recognized titles but also on establishing ourselves as a center of excellence in technology,” said Pam Drucker Mann, Global Chief Revenue Officer and President for U.S. Revenue and APAC at Condé Nast, to whom Sandeep will report.
“I’m incredibly proud to be joining Condé Nast, home to some of the world’s most iconic brands. India has particularly large growth potential, and I’m excited to take Condé Nast to new heights in this region,” said Sandeep. “Condé Nast has already shaped itself into a technology-driven, digital-first content business, and as a tech entrepreneur, my role is to build on that strong foundation. From new opportunities in luxury ecommerce to digital channel expansion to other formats of offline user-engagement, I am confident that we will be able to push the boundaries here in India.”
Prior to Gaana, Sandeep was the founder and CEO of Wedding in, India’s largest wedding company and a one-stop-shop for all wedding services, which hospitality behemoth OYO acquired. Lodha’s other roles have included Executive Director at the Walt Disney Company in India, overseeing their consumer products division, Sr. Principle at global business consulting firm Bain & Company, as well as senior engineering titles at both Riverstone Networks (now Alcatel Lucent) and Synopsys, Inc. Sandeep holds an M.B.A in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. degree in Computer Engineering from University of Cincinnati, and a Bacholer’s Tech Degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.
In India, Condé Nast brands include Vogue, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller and Architectural Digest. Condé Nast Technology Labs, the team responsible for creating innovative, data-driven technology products and services across the company’s global portfolio, is also based in India, with offices in Bangalore and Chennai.
