Bhakta will oversee all areas of the company’s global technology strategy and services, product development incorporating product management, UX design and engineering reporting directly into Wolfgang Blau, Chief Operating Officer & President, International of Condé Nast. He brings extensive experience in building direct to consumer platforms and associated products and services for the digital economy.
“Sanjay has a unique and compelling blend of experience in media, publishing and data services combined with a truly global outlook on product development and engineering. His experience will support innovation across all our brands and platforms coupled with the engineering expertise to develop it,” said Blau. “The team will be one of the driving forces in uniting the company and helping it to achieve its goals of an enhanced focus on the consumer and the development of new ways to share capabilities and best practices across the company and all our markets.”
The CPTO is a newly created role and will be responsible for driving innovation and development of game-changing products and services for the company’s portfolio of brands around the world. Bhakta will lead the company-wide product and technology strategy, engineering, UX, infrastructure and operations, and will have responsibility for management of product and technology personnel based on lean and agile ways of working.
Bhakta joins Condé Nast from Pearson, where he served as SVP of global platform and product engineering, with responsibility for the global platform for content, digital educational products and services. Prior to joining Pearson, he spent three years at HBO, as vice president of media software engineering, where he was responsible for the entire media supply chain starting with content acquisition and culminating in linear and nonlinear distribution channels both domestically and internationally.
“Condé Nast has a fantastic portfolio of world renowned brands that uniquely positions it to be a powerhouse in the new landscape of digital media and entertainment,” said Bhakta. “I am excited to be a part of this journey and I am looking forward to helping the company leverage technology to drive new and engaging consumer product experiences across their iconic brands.”
Bhakta graduated from University of Mysore, India with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He also attended Columbia Business School and holds an MBA in Corporate Finance and Strategy.
