Who is Kiran Mani? OpenAI hires India’s JioStar CEO to head up Asia-Pacific
OpenAI has appointed Kiran Mani, CEO of Indian streaming service JioStar, to a newly created role to oversee its Asia-Pacific operations. Bloomberg report.
Mani will assume the position of general manager of the region from OpenAI’s Singapore office in June and will report to Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon.
OpenAI is competing with rivals like Anthropic PBC and Google (Alphabet Inc.) to attract users, and Asia’s large and growing markets offer huge opportunities. India, home to more than 1.4 billion people, is particularly important to the company. Bloomberg reported.
Reliance Industries Ltd. JioStar, a joint venture between JioStar and Walt Disney Co., operates the JioHotstar streaming platform. The service has grown to a subscriber base of over 300 million, leveraging India’s passion for cricket and demand for soap operas and reality shows.
OpenAI hired its first employee in India, a government relations officer, in 2024 and has been steadily increasing its workforce in the country since then. In February, the company announced a collaboration with the Tata Group for the development of artificial intelligence technologies, including the construction of data center infrastructure.
Who is Kiran Mani?
Kiran Mani has 25 years of experience developing and scaling multibillion-dollar digital platforms and ecosystems, along with expertise in consumer technology, mobile, cloud and media streaming, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Before joining JioStar, he served as CEO of Viacom18’s digital business, where he focused on expanding broadcast and digital media operations.
Previously, Mani held senior leadership roles at Google as General Manager and Managing Director of the Android and Google Play ecosystems in Asia Pacific and Japan. His career also includes strategic positions at Microsoft and IBM, with responsibilities spanning India, the US and the Asia-Pacific region.
Kiran Mani’s education
Kiran has strong academic credentials in finance, strategy and management. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst specializing in Economics, Finance and Analytics from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts (1996-1998), where he was a National Merit Scholar, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Simultaneously, he completed PGDBA (Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration) from IBS Hyderabad (1996–1998) and graduated as a National Topper and Merit Scholar with focus on Business Strategy, Management and Marketing.
He also participated in the prestigious IBM Marketing Leadership Development Program (2006–2008), a two-year global training and development initiative conducted with leading business schools and IBM’s executive leaders, according to his LinkedIn profile.
(With input from Bloomberg)
