MUMBAI: Ever since his promotion in early October, Steve Askew has been functioning as chief operating officer (COO) of Star Group Ltd, in all but name.
Steve Askew
Star made it official today when it announced the promotions of Askew to COO and John Lau to chief financial officer (CFO) and executive vice-president, business development. Both report to chief executive Michelle Guthrie.
It was in early October that Askew was promoted to executive vice-president, television operations at Star and president, Star Entertainment. With that promotion, Askew was not only spearheading Star's programming in India, China and Taiwan, he was also in charge of the broadcast operations and engineering division of Star and the company's Taiwan operations.
In his new position, Askew continues to spearhead Stars programming, oversee the companys broadcast operations and engineering division and the Star Taiwan operation. In addition, he is also responsible for distribution businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Philippines and Thailand
John Lau
The expanded position of John Lau gives him the responsibility for heading the business development division of the company in addition to overseeing all financial matters.
Announcing the appointments, Guthrie was quoted in a company release as saying, Steve and John are extremely capable, experienced and uniquely qualified to the new positions. They are going to play a much more vital role as the company moves to the next stage of growth and development.
Askew has nearly 20 years of broadcasting experience in Asia and Australia, of which nine years have been with Star.
John Lau was previously CFO of Star. He has 15 years of experience and joined Star in 1998 as senior V-P, finance.