Industry questions ‘alpha male' leadership structure at JioStar

New Delhi: “Is it just me, or does anyone see something stark here? The biggest media company in the country has NO woman in leadership," wrote Megha Tata, commenting on BestMediaInfo’s LinkedIn post announcing the JioStar leadership team.

Tata, one of the few female leaders in the media industry with a career helming Cosmos Maya, Discovery Communications India, and HBO, highlighted a glaring truth that cannot be ignored.

With the completion of the merger process on Thursday, Reliance-Disney revealed its leadership team across media verticals of the joint entity, JioStar.

In response to Tata’s observations, two male members of the industry offer counters stating that Nita Ambani serves as the "boss of the bosses" in her capacity as Chairperson of JioStar. 

It's worth noting the subtle bias in terminology—while "Chairman" is commonly used for males in such roles, "Chairperson" is often employed for females, reflecting deeper societal patterns of inequity.

The newly formed entity ‘JioStar’ is helmed by three CEOs: Kevin Vaz, overseeing entertainment across all platforms; Kiran Mani, managing combined digital operations; and Sanjog Gupta, leading the sports division. 

Tata indeed made a point that many, including this writer, agree with. 

While scrolling through JioStar’s leadership team, one will find a female face—Kshipra Jatana, the ‘Transition Legal Head’ towards the end of the list. This also stems from Mihir Rale, the company’s legal head, recently resigning. 

Altogether, the top-tier leadership at JioStar consists of 25 professionals, with only one female leader—who is, again, a transitional head until a permanent appointment is made.

The lack of female representation extends even to the cluster heads of JioStar's entertainment divisions. Alok Jain, Head of Cluster Entertainment (Colors, Digital Hindi, Niche, Movies, and Studio), Sumanta Bose, Head of Cluster Entertainment (Star Plus and Bharat, Bengali, Marathi, and Gujarati), and Krishnan Kutty, Head of Cluster Entertainment (South), all lead teams with no women in top roles.

However, if one moves to the second rung of the leadership team, there are women leaders at the Executive or Senior Vice-President levels.

In Alok Jain's eight-member team, there are three women: Anu Sikka, Shital Iyer, and Prachi Sahay. 

Krishnan Kutty’s six-member team shows a slightly better ratio, with three women—Sushma Rajesh, Himabindu Chitta, and Prachi Mohapatra. 

On the other hand, Sumanta Bose’s eight-member team has just one woman, Koustuvi Ghosh. 

Under Ajit Varghese, Head of Revenue, Entertainment, and International, Shubra Sethi is the sole female in a five-member team. 

Piyush Goyal, Head of TV Distribution, has only one woman, Bindu Nair, in his team. 

Even in the sports division led by Sanjog Gupta, the seven-member leadership team includes just one woman, Mallika Petkar. 

George Cherian, Head of Corporate Communications & PR—a domain traditionally known for better female representation—is another male leader in JioStar's structure. 

However, his team shows a slight deviation from the trend, with two women in prominent roles: Namita Jadhav, overseeing PR for the sports vertical, and Richa Anand, managing PR for the entertainment segment. 

That said, this isn’t just a JioStar-specific issue—it’s a stark reflection of the broader reality within the media and entertainment industry. 

The media and entertainment industry loves to sell women's empowerment on screen but stumbles behind the scenes. For all its progressive storytelling, its leadership rooms remain glaringly male-dominated. The irony? 

The industry thrives on ‘saas-bahu’ dramas and fearless female protagonists yet struggles to reflect the same empowerment within its own ranks. 

Various industry bodies host countless events, panels, and workshops on leadership, equality, diversity, and inclusion, but little has changed in reality. 

Women leaders are few, often limited to mid-level positions, while decision-making tables echo with the same old boys' club chatter. 

It’s high time the industry practised what it preaches—because true empowerment isn’t just a storyline; it’s a responsibility that starts at the top.