Zee rejigs management, promotes key people

Zee Network has undergone a restructuring, and elevations have been announced. Tarun Mehra has been appointed business head, Zee TV. Mohan Gopinath has been made business head, Zee Cinema. Irshwin Balvani has been given additional responsibility as business head, Play TV. Ajay Balwankar is now business head, Zee Marathi.

Mohan Gopinath joined Zee Network in 1996 as a management trainee. He has held various positions in functions such as sales, programming and marketing before stepping into his current role. He holds a management degree from Mumbai University.

Irshwin Balvani, in addition to his current portfolio as business head of Zee Music and ETC Network Ltd, will also look after Play TV from now on. Prior to joining Zee Network in September 2005, Balvani was with the Times Group for 13 years, working on group properties such as Planet M, Times Music, Times FM and Zoom Television. He has also worked with Sony Music and Gramaphone Co.

Ajay Balwankar is now business head of Zee Marathi. With a background in journalism, he joined the Zee Group in 1994 for the group’s advertising and marketing magazine, ‘Dream Merchants’, as assistant director. He was instrumental in launching Music Asia (now Zee Music) and worked there for three years from 1996 to 1999. He played an important role in launching Zee Marathi in 1999, joining there as group head.

Announcing the changes, Punit Goenka, network operating officer, Zee Entertainment, says, “This re-organisation is a result of our learning from an in-depth internal communications exercise in which I met most of the managers within the network to assess the width of in-house talent. It was truly satisfying to reaffirm that we have an extremely talented pool of people. I believe by enriching their portfolios, they will lead Zee Network with greater vigour and effect.”