Facebook strengthens its leadership team with three new Directors

Facebook is pleased to welcome Francis Jose, Manohar Hotchandani and Paras Sharma to its growing Partnership team in India. With extensive experience in technology, telecom, media and entertainment, these new additions will help lead strategic partnerships and initiatives to support Facebook’s continued growth in India, with an overall aim for driving better value for business partners.

Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India said “ We are proud to expand our team with addition of Francis, Manohar and Paras - who are not only leading industry talents but also share Facebook’s passion to create unique experiences that drive business value for our partners and bring the world closer together. ”

Paras Sharma will be the Director for Media Partnerships and lead the charter across News, Entertainment, Sports and Music verticals for both Facebook and Instagram. Paras comes with 23 years of experience with leading global media organizations like Viacom CBS Asia, Fox International Channels and ESPN Star Sports. He has worked across various functions including media, creative, content production, acquisition & programming, OTT platforms, marketing and business management and has led teams in diverse regions including India, SEA, China & Japan, with a focus on expanding to newer markets, creating localized programming and new programs; to grow audiences and engagement across linear and digital platforms.

Francis Jose is the new Director of Mobile & Connectivity Partnerships for India and will drive engagements across the Telecom, ISP & Mobile devices industries in India. He joins Facebook from Samsung India Electronics and prior to that he has worked at Blackberry, Reliance Communications, Airtel, Aptech & BPL Mobile. Over the past 21 years, he has held responsibilities across a wide spectrum of roles including network engineering, business development, sales & distribution as well as strategic partner management; working with clients & principals to develop newer go to market strategies and expand their user bases.

Manohar Hotchandani joins as Director, Business Development and will be working across multiple opportunities in India, with a keen focus on growing Gaming, Commerce, AR/VR. He joins Facebook from Amazon where he led the Alexa voice service (AVS) business post a long stint at Microsoft across multiple roles. Manohar has 25+ years of experience across Business Development, Ecosystem creation and management & P&L management with MNC companies like Microsoft and Amazon.

All three of them will be reporting to Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships at Facebook India.