Anuj Khanna Sohum

Takayuki Hoshuyama

Raj L Gupta

Richard Humphreys

Jack Baron

Dr. Mandar Chitre

Anuj Kumar

Ben fones

ANUJ KHANNA SOHUM
Founder & Chairman, Affle Group

Anuj Khanna Sohum is a serial entrepreneur and innovator. Anuj started as an entrepreneur at the age of 20, while enrolled in a computer engineering course, on a Singapore Airlines scholarship, at the National University of Singapore (NUS). His first company, Anitus Technologies, was acquired in 2001 by MCSB and rechristened myMCSB. His second company, SecLore Technology, was acquired by Herald Logic in 2007.

In 2006, he founded Affle with the bold ambition of becoming a global leader in the mobile media space. Using his entrepreneurial acumen, ability to leverage technology trends and user insights he has strategically transformed Affle into a smart media company. He also founded ad2c in 2012, by enabling the joint venture between D2C Inc, Japan and the Affle Group, Singapore and simultaneously acquiring MobiMasta India, with the ambition of vitalizing the Asian mobile advertising industry.

Anuj has a keen interest in driving technology and new media innovations. He enjoys the challenge of making sense out of emerging trends and technologies and transforming innovative ideas into successful businesses. An active evangelist of the smart mobile media, Anuj participates in industry forums to further the cause of the mobile media industry and towards improving industry standards and practices. Anuj is passionate about promoting and exploring entrepreneurship.

Anuj is an alumnus of the National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.

TAKAYUKI HOSHUYAMA
Independent Director

A seasoned professional in the mobile marketing and advertising domain, Hoshuyama San is the founding member and CEO of D2C Inc.

Takayuki Hoshuyama is the CEO of D2C Inc. (D2C), a joint venture between NTT docomo (docomo) and Dentsu which was founded in 2000 to build the mobile advertising business in Japan.

He started his career in the sales department of Dentsu, one of the largest advertising agency in the world. He later worked as Dentsu’s account executive for docomo where he was in charge of media buying, international communications and strategic alliances with them. When docomo released the i-mode service in 1999, he was one of the original members of the Mobile Advertising Project. He became one of the founding members of D2C where he was appointed the Director of Sales and Business Development. In November 2004, he was appointed to be the COO of D2C. In 2005, he was appointed to the board member of the MMSA (Mobile Marketing Solution Association). And most recently, he was appointed by D2C’s board of directors to become its Chief Executive Officer in June 2010. He is the youngest CEO in NTT Group and Dentsu Group.

He has wide range of experience as speaker for both Japan and overseas such as “SP planner training in Sendenkaigi (2000-2003)”, “Digital Hollywood University (2006 / as a part-time professor)”, “Mobile Marketing Conference 2010 (as a key note speaker)”, “Mobile Advertising Conference in Spain (2001)”, “Mobile Advertising & Marketing Conference in London (2002)”, “Mobile Marketing & Advertising Conference in Singapore (2003)”, “Mobile Future Forward in Seattle (2010)”, “Global Mobile Internet Conference (2011)” and more.

RAJ L GUPTA
Independent Director

A widely respected and highly accomplished professional, Mr. Gupta has served as the Chairman and CEO of Rohm and Haas and has held other such leadership positions in several private companies.

Mr. Gupta has served as Chairman of Avantor Performance Materials, a manufacturer of chemistries and materials, since August 2010 and as Senior Advisor to New Mountain Capital, LLC, a private equity firm, since July 2009.

Previously, Mr. Gupta served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rohm and Haas Company, a worldwide producer of specialty materials, from 1999 to April 2009. Mr. Gupta occupied various other positions at Rohm and Haas since joining the company in 1971, including Vice-Chairman from 1998 to 1999; Director of the Electronic Materials business from 1996 to 1999; and Vice-President and Regional Director of the Asia-Pacific Region from 1993 to 1998. Mr. Gupta also is a director of Tyco International Ltd., The Vanguard Group and several private companies.

RICHARD HUMPHREYS
Independent Director

Richard has a vast and rich experience in advertising and media and was previously the President of Saatchi & Saatchi.

Richard was previously the President of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide and was responsible for 63 companies with over five thousand employees in 27 countries. He has vast experience in many aspects of Advertising & Media.

Richard started his career writing for the BBC and ITV. He rose to be the Managing Director of an operating division of one of the first publicly listed UK agencies. Following this, he started his own advertising agency in 1978 and took it to the top twenty in the UK by the mid-eighties. His company was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi. After serving as President, Richard moved on from Saatchi & Saatchi to become President of Adcom Investors, owner of a leading US advertising, new media, and sports marketing group of companies. He negotiated the sale of Adcom to Publicis.

Over the last decade, Richard has advised some of the World’s leading media companies. Based primarily in London, he has been involved in the expansion of various new media companies in the US, television broadcasters in Russia and Japan, film and television production studios in the US and Mexico, and advertising companies in Europe.

JACK BARON
Independent Director

In over 25 years of management experience, Jack has worn many hats in his career ranging from sales & marketing to customer service.

Jack Baron is a Co-founder of PAETEC and has over 25 years of management experience, including 17 years in telecom sales, marketing, training, and customer-service. PAETEC has over $1B market capitalization, and was ranked the 2nd fastest growing tech company in North America in 2003. Jack serves as Chief Marketing and Training Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development. In these roles, he provides the vision, development and deployment strategy for PAETEC Communications' entire product suite. He also oversees PAETEC's entire customer management process which includes over 200 professional account managers, serving customers with combined revenue of almost $1 billion.

Prior to joining PAETEC, Jack served as National Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service for ACC TeleCom's U.S. operations. Prior to joining ACC in 1995, Jack served as President of ETI Technical College, a 4-year engineering college in Cleveland.

Jack is now Chairman of the Executive Advisory Board for Rochester's Flower City Habitat for Humanity, as well as a member of the Habitat Board of Directors. He also serves on the Executive Advisory Board for the Otetiana Council of the Boy Scouts of America, as he has since 2001.

Jack has an MBA from Syracuse University with a concentration in marketing, and graduated summa cum laude. He has a B.S degree in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester.

DR. MANDAR CHITRE
Independent Director

Dr. Chitre currently heads the Acoustic Research Laboratory (ARL) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and has a vast array of experience in science, technology, management & business.

Dr. Chitre is currently the Head of the Acoustic Research Laboratory (ARL) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and leads several research teams in the fields of underwater acoustics, underwater communications and autonomous vehicle research with projects having a combined investment of more than SGD15M. Before pursuing research in these fields, Dr. Chitre spent 5 years as the Chief Technology Officer of a regional telecommunications software company. He built a team of more than 400 people with software engineers and architects who engineered innovative solutions for mobile operators in the areas of SMS application gateways, WAP gateways, mobile browsers, MMSCs and e-Payment gateways. He was instrumental not only in architecting the solutions but also in developing software methodologies that enabled the company to produce robust software with quick time-to-market. Prior to this Dr. Chitre had over 15 years of experience developing time-keeping & accounting systems, drawing office automation systems, control software for CNC machinery, image processing tools, specialized operating systems and web applications.

With his diverse background, Dr. Chitre brings a vast array of experience in science, technology, management and business to the team. Dr. Chitre has held advisory roles at several organizations such as OKILABS, World2Web, Singapore Science Center and Nanyang Polytechnic and has been a consultant to Singapore Technologies, Temasek Defense Systems Institute and the National Institute of Education.

Dr. Chitre has a Ph.D. in the field of telecommunications engineering, a Masters degree in Bioinformatics and another Masters degree in underwater acoustics.

ANUJ KUMAR
Co-founder & CEO, Affle

Anuj Kumar was among the first to join the Affle founding team beginning 2006, while the company was in early stages of inception. Having worked with large companies in the areas of marketing, advertising and technology he took the plunge to become a co-founder at Affle, as he was supremely excited by the business model & significant untapped opportunities in the digital media domain.

Serving as the Executive Director for South Asia region, Anuj played a pivotal role in building & growing Affle. He forged important relationships, integral to Affle’s business and to its success as a mobile media company. At an industry level Anuj played a key role in growing the mobile advertising industry in the region. In 2011, Anuj was promoted to the position of CEO of Affle.

Over the last five years, under his leadership, his team has implemented hundreds of campaigns for over 200 brands from a wide variety of sectors and forged successful strategic alliances and partnerships with several top companies in the Digital Media & Telecom domain. Anuj is a regular speaker at industry events in Asia.

Prior to co-founding Affle, Anuj has worked with large global brands like ESPN STAR Sports, GroupM Mindshare and JWT.

Anuj holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi and a Masters from the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA).

BEN FONES
Co-founder & Executive Director, Affle Media Lab

Ben Fones joined Affle as a cofounder in the year 2006. His double degree in Computer Information systems and Management Information systems adds to his strength as a techno-entrepreneur.

Starting as an Executive Director for South East Asia, Ben was responsible for managing Affle’s business across markets. Ben also manages Affle’s regional advertising sales and overall operations. In August 2012, Ben assumed the position of the CEO of Affle Media Lab, launched to drive product and technology innovations.

In 1996, Ben started his career consulting for IBM focusing on the Banking and Finance industries. He moved to Edgematrix, a mobile solutions company in 1997 as one of the early members of the core team. Ben rose within the ranks to become Country Manager Singapore. At Edgematrix he worked extensively with clients in the telecom space. His various successes included growing some key accounts to yield million plus dollar revenues.

Ben is also the founder and non-executive director of a successful software company called Okilabs. The company specializes in web and mobile solutions providing systems integration services for telecom operators and enterprises.

Ben is an Engineer with a double degree in Computer Information and Management Information Systems from Bentley College USA. He gave up his Master’s in Business Administration halfway to pursue entrepreneurship. Ben enjoys playing golf and sports a single digit handicap.