Following the recent Annual General Meeting of the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA), four new members have joined the Board of AVIA and a new Chairman has been elected. The new Chairman and board members are from across the spectrum of the video industry, both geographically and functionally, and include heads of content companies as well as telecommunications leaders.
The AVIA board will be led by a new Chairman with the election of Clement Schwebig, Head of WarnerMedia for India, Southeast Asia, and Korea, who takes over from Joe Welch, Vice President, Global Public Policy, Asia Pacific, The Walt Disney Company.
Louis Boswell, CEO of AVIA, commented, “The board of AVIA and I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Joe Welch for the last four years of his leadership, a period which has seen the reinvention of the industry association. It has been my great pleasure working with Joe to ensure that AVIA is clear in its mission and purpose to represent the video industry across all our common concerns. Equally, I am now looking forward to building on that legacy with Clement and to take AVIA to greater success in creating the strong and stable foundations required for our members to grow and prosper. The range of business that Clement is responsible for, together with his personal commitment to make time to support our entire industry, gives me great confidence in the future.”
Addressing the subject of taking over the board chairmanship, Schwebig said: “WarnerMedia has had a long history with AVIA and I’m enormously proud to continue this relationship as Chair. I’m looking forward to working closely with Louis and the rest of the Board to represent the interests of all our members. In this time of change and uncertainty, we have a clear agenda to further the best interests and growth of the video industry in the Asia Pacific.”
The new board members are Ryan Shiotani, Senior Vice President & General Manager, South & Southeast Asia, and Tony Qiu, SVP & GM East and South East Asia and Head of Global Location Based Entertainment Business, who join from BBC Studios and Discovery Communications respectively. Meanwhile, Maria Yolanda C. Crisanto, Chief Sustainability Officer, SVP and Head of Corporate Communications Group of Globe Telecom Inc. and Ongard Prapakamol, Chief Media Officer from True Corporation also join the AVIA board for the first time.
Board members are chosen from nominees among member companies at the Annual General Meeting of the Association and then the Board Chair is selected by the members of the Board.
