KrishnaShetty Skandraaj calls it a day at Malar Publications

May 2 is Skandraaj's last day as the COO of Sovereign Media Marketing.

KrishnaShetty Skandraaj, the COO of Sovereign Media Marketing, the marketing division of Malar Publications, has put in his papers.

Skandraaj confirmed the development to afaqs! "May 2 is my last day at Sovereign Media Marketing, and as of now, I'm going to take a short sabbatical and then evaluate my options." He informs that he has a couple of options from the media industry. Apart from those, he is also toying with the idea of setting up his own venture.

"I'm thinking of starting a consultancy that would train sales force in the media domain. But, as of now, nothing is concrete," he shares.

The group is yet to find a replacement for him.

With over 22 years of experience, Skandraaj has been associated with Sovereign Media Marketing since May 2005 and has been responsible for the development of the brand Sovereign Media Marketing, playing a key role in increasing the advertising revenue. He was also responsible for strategic consulting, including business plans and sales strategy development of the daily.

Prior to Sovereign Media Marketing, he was with the ABP Group as regional manager for a little less than two years.

During his tenure with Sovereign Media Marketing, Skandraaj has also worked as chief manager, marketing and as national head, for advertising, marketing, brand communication and branding activities.

The Malar Publishing also owns Rani and Rani Muthu weekly and the monthly magazine Gokulam Kathir, an evening daily Mallai Malar, a cable channel AMN TV, and the FM channel titled HelloFM.

Skandraaj also worked with Deccan Herald for six years. He left the company as assistant general manager (advertisement).

Skandraaj started his career with Getit Yellow Pages as sales executive in July 1988. He was with the company for about three years, and was responsible for selling the yellow pages concept across categories. From there, he moved on to The Indian Express group as business executive and was with the company till October 1994. At The Indian Express, he was instrumental in commencing the company's computer publication in Chennai (then Madras), which resulted in the growth of revenue by 40 per cent in the first year itself.

Skandraaj later moved to The Hindu as assistant regional manager where he spearheaded operations for special features and the colour magazines of the group. During his tenure as head of special features cell, his team came out with more than 34 special features, with revenue worth Rs 2.5 crore.

Skandraaj, a B.Com graduate from Madras University, also holds a diploma in Automobile Engineering and has done an executive development programme from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He has a Management Diploma in Business Administration from Symbiosis, Pune.