MAM
ChyronHego appoints Neil Foster as COO and CFO
MUMBAI: With an aim of continuing its global growth both organically and through acquisitions, ChyronHego’s has appointment Neil Foster as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Foster will be based at the ChyronHego headquarters in Melville, New York reporting directly to the company’s president and CEO Johan Apel.
“We’re very privileged to welcome Neil to our senior management team as we continue to deepen and scale our operations in support of our continued expansion in global markets,” said Apel. Adding further, “With his rich experience in executive-level management at high-profile, global enterprises, Neil will play a valued leadership role in our rapidly growing company.”
Foster brings to ChyronHego more than 25 years of executive experience in various strategic, operational, financial, and corporate development roles at the nexus of media, technology, and entertainment.
“I am thrilled to join ChyronHego and Johan’s team at this exciting time in the company’s evolution,” Foster added. “With innovative products and services that empower graphics and data for the broadcast and sports industries, ChyronHego is well-positioned as a leader in one of technology’s most attractive vertical markets for software applications. I’m looking forward to applying my strategic, operational, and financial expertise to help ChyronHego create value for shareholders.”
Prior to joining ChyronHego, he served as executive vice president, operations, for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. He has also held a number of roles in the recorded music business, including executive vice president, finance and operations, for the Columbia/Epic Label Group of Sony Music Entertainment, and co-president of Sony Music Entertainment Canada. Foster’s early career included positions at McKinsey & Company Inc. and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
