Sandeep Lodha replaces Alex Kuruvilla as Conde Nast India MD

Condé Nast Thursday announced the appointment of Sandeep Lodha as the new Managing Director of India, officially assuming the role in July.

Lodha 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 Chairman Emeritus.

In his new role, Lodha will oversee all aspects of Condé Nast business across all brands in India.

Lodha, an IIT-Delhi alumni association with an MBA from Wharton, 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 business.

During his leadership at Gaana, the company saw substantial user growth, as well as growth in user retention, engagement, and subscriptions. Lodha 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, Condé Nast’s Global Chief Revenue Officer & President, U.S. Revenue & APAC, to whom Lodha 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 Lodha. “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, Lodha was the founder and CEO of Weddingz.in, India;’s largest wedding co and a one-stop-shop for all wedding services, which was acquired by hospitality behemoth OYO. 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.

Lodha 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 B.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.

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