MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, the commercial consumer arm of the BBC, has appointed Sandra Braun as its head of New Business Development for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA).

Braun has been promoted to this new position to oversee all the strategic new business development initiatives across TV, publishing, new media and channels in the region. Business areas range from the rapidly developing Video-on-Demand market, broadband and interactive TV to mobile and hand-held devices, digital cinema and website syndication. Sandra will also look at opportunities for sponsorship and cross-promotions in these markets.

According to a release, Braun will reporting directly to EMEIA's Managing Director Mark Young. She will also work closely with EMEIA's sales teams across all territories to ensure that the cross-divisional synergies between various businesses are optimised and efficiently implemented. Additionally, she will identify new business opportunities, evaluate their strategic importance for BBC Worldwide and oversee their implementation.

The release also stated that one of Braun's recent initiatives was to develop the mobile voting service for the Top Of The Pops Awards in the German speaking markets. The scheme involved making available the same voting mechanism across TV, Teletext, Internet and the 'Top Of The Pops Magazine' and proved to be very successful.

The release also mentioned that Braun, an MBA degree from the Oxford Brookes University, joined BBC Worldwide in 1998 from her native Germany, where she worked as Foreign Rights Manager with publishers Ullstein Buchverlage.