Sify’s Surya Mantha is CEO of Web 18

MUMBAI: Television 18 has named Surya Mantha the CEO of Web 18, its internet arm. He is currently the head of interactive service business of Sify India. Mantha will assume charge by the end of September.

Haresh Chawla, CEO, TV18 Group, said: “Mantha brings with him expertise in both technology and consumer understanding, particularly in the internet space. This will be useful in establishing Web18’s dominance in the consumer internet space in India. We are also confident that his experience in a global environment will help scale up Web18 into the global league.”

Surya Mantha, a BTech in computer science and engineering from IIT Kanpur, also did a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and an MBA from the Simon School at the University of Rochester.

He started his career with the corporate research Group of Xerox Corporation. Before joining Sify, he spent several years at RealNetworks in Seattle WA, US, in several marketing and management roles, including GM of Broadband Solutions and head of evangelism and GM solutions and business operations for the Real Broadcast Network (RBN), Real’s Content Delivery Network.

An enthused Mantha said: “The opportunity in the Indian market is huge and so essentially as a company we will have to grab the bull by the horn and ride it.”