News Broadcasting
Delhi Duty Free appoints Mr. Duncan Lawley as Chief Executive Officer
NEW DELHI : Mr. Duncan Lawley, a distinguished name in the travel and retail domain has joined Delhi Duty Free Services as Chief Executive Officer. With an extensive knowledge of business start-ups within the travel retail industry and armed with a degree in Business Management, Lawley brings a wealth of knowledge and duty free retailing experience to support and drive DDFS growth going forward.
Being a virtuoso in the airport retailing industry, Duncan has over 25 years of experience and has been instrumental in the development and successful implementation of several duty free ventures across the world. Duncan comes most recently from the ARI JV at Cyprus’s Larnaka and Pafos airports where he was General Manager.
Prior to the Cyprus role, Duncan worked as a consultant with WH Smith where he re-launched the brand at Copenhagen and Arlanda airports, with GVA Grimley Outlets where he oversaw the operational startup for 2 Factory Outlet Centres – Premier Outlet Centre Ringsted, Denmark and Fashion Arena Outlet Centre, Prague, CZ. Prior to these appointments Duncan enjoyed a 16 year association with the Nuance Group which culminated with him taking responsibility for the Company’s business in Denmark and Sweden as Managing Director (Scandinavia).
Mr. Duncan Lawley said on his appointment “The success of Delhi Duty Free has redefined the Indian travel retail experience for both the travelers and for the world’s top global luxury brands. I am very excited to have the opportunity to work for India’s largest duty free operator. I look forward to exploring even more avenues to develop growth here as well as consolidating the successes already achieved”.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
