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Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) just announced executive appointments within the compa-
ny’s management team in Asia Pacific, which will be effective 1 October 2016.

Paras Sharma, previously Senior Vice President of MTV, Comedy Central & Paramount Channel
brands, and Digital Media for Asia, will take on the position of Senior Vice President & General
Manager for Southeast Asia (SEA), and will continue to report directly to Mark Whitehead, Ex-
ecutive Vice President and Managing Director, VIMN Asia Pacific. With a new focused leadership
for the SEA team, Sharma will oversee the management and operations of the SEA business,
identify new growth opportunities and develop VIMN’s strategic plan in SEA. He will remain as the
Asia lead for VIMN’s digital and multiplatform business. Over the last two years in Asia, Sharma
has delivered a strong track record with high ratings growth for MTV and Comedy Central, intro-
duced Paramount Channel, led the premiere of Nickelodeon Play in Singapore with Singtel,
launched Comedy Central’s first Asia original production with Comedy Central Stand-Up Asia! Paras Sharma
and worked closely with VIMN Japan to launch the first Linear OTT channel MTV Hits in Japan.

Simon Bates, Vice President of MTV, Comedy Central & Spike brands for Australia and New
Zealand, is appointed Vice President, Head of MTV Asia Pacific, and Comedy Central
and Spike for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Bates will dual report to Whitehead for his
MTV regional role and to Ben Richardson, Senior Vice President and General Manager in
ANZ for his local brand leadership over MTV, Comedy Central and Spike. He will lead the
brand teams across Asia Pacific to grow the MTV brand and drive synergies across the differ-
ent lines of businesses and platforms to support revenue growth across Asia Pacific, besides
maintaining brand leadership for Comedy Central and Spike in ANZ. Bates led MTV to its best
year ever in Australia this year with record TV ratings and online engagement. He oversaw a
Simon Bates busy year of portfolio expansion with the launch of Comedy Central online, and the premieres
of Comedy Central and Spike on Fetch TV. Furthermore, he was credited
with the development of hit social-series #MTVItGirls and the localization of UK-developed
franchises Club MTV and MTV Brand New. Recently, Bates and his Sydney-based team
took home two ASTRA Industry Excellence Award wins.

Kirsty Bloore, Research Director for ANZ, is promoted to Senior Director, Research for
Asia Pacific. Bloore will report to Amit Arora, Vice President of Strategy and Business De-
velopment, Asia Pacific and to Richardson for ANZ research support. With more than two
decades of media and research experience, she will provide the businesses with regional
consumer and commercial insights, brands’ performance reporting and forecasting. Bloore
has been instrumental in building recognition of the ANZ business as a leader in consumer
insights by sharing key studies with the market. ◊ Kirsty Bloore

Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, the largest online and mobile commerce
company in the world, has been named Special Adviser to the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) for Youth Entrepreneurship and Small Business.

UNCTAD assists governments in developing countries to promote enterprises, especially small and medium-sized
enterprises and young entrepreneurs, so that they are able to compete in the global economy.

In his new role as UNCTAD Special Adviser, Jack Ma will champion initiatives to make it easier for young entre-
preneurs and small businesses to make business, to participate in global trade, as well as raise awareness about
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He brings without doubts expertise, results and vision to the role. In 1999, he created Alibaba, recognizing the
power of the internet to level the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and today there are more
than 10 million small businesses in China operating on Alibaba’s marketplaces. His proposed concept of the
“eWTP” (Electronic World Trade Platform), a way to bring small and medium-sized enterprises more fully into the
global economy, was included in the official communiqué of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, in September
2016.

Jack Ma, who is also a United Nations Advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals, a leading philanthropist
and teacher, is also an active advisor to multiple governments and business institutions globally and member of
the International Advisory Council to the Singapore Economic Development Board. In 2014, he was elected to the
Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum. ◊
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