MUMBAI: CNBC has appointed TV industry veteran Charles Lei as senior vice president, Greater China. In his new role, Lei will be responsible for strategic planning, revenue generation, business development, and building and managing relationships with relevant Chinese government agencies, local partners and advertisers.
Lei will also concurrently be overseeing CNBC's business development in Taiwan.
Lei joins CNBC with a wealth of experience in the television and entertainment industries. Prior to this appointment, he spent close to a decade with the Walt Disney Company, first at Buena Vista Home Entertainment based in Hong Kong, and subsequently at Walt Disney Television International in Beijing as general manager for China operations.
In that role, Lei's responsibilities for Disney's TV business in China included programming production, syndication, marketing and advertising sales. He successfully set up Disney TV offices in Beijing and Shanghai, significantly expanded programming distribution coverage across China and developed new programming initiatives.
Before joining Walt Disney, Lei ran his own Los Angeles-based information technology consultancy practice specialising in the entertainment industry.
CNBC Asia Pacific president and CEO Alexander P Brown said, "A well-known name in China's television industry, Charles comes to us with an impressive track record. Among the international TV news networks, CNBC has been most successful in translating its content to the needs of local viewers in China, and we look forward to strengthening our growth in this very important market under Charles' leadership."