Indo-American appointed VP of Associated Press

Washington, Aug 11: An Indian American Srinandan Kasi, who has been with the Associated Press news cooperative since 2004, has been promoted to be vice president and general counsel making him one of the most senior South Asians in the business side of the US media.

''Sri's wide-ranging technical, legal and business skills have served the AP well since he joined us as Vice President-global business and deputy general counsel,'' Mr Tom Curley, president and CEO of AP said in announcing Kasi's appointment on Monday.

''His diverse background will come into play even more as the AP charts new ground in the digital era with its international editorial, business and technology initiatives.'' Mr Kasi, who was raised and educated in Chennai, India, joins a handful of executives in the top management of US mainstream media firms, including Nusrat Durrani, senior VP and General Manager, MTV World; Ketan Gandhi, president and publisher of the Home News Tribune in New Jersey (first South Asian publisher of a US daily); Rena Golden, senior vice president of CNN International; Manish Jha, senior VP and general manager of Mobile ESPN.

Prior to joining the AP, he was with the law firm of Dewey Ballantine LLP. He has served as general counsel and head of strategic planning for an e-commerce company, and was an attorney with Rogers&Wells. Mr Kasi has worked on a variety of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance matters, strategic alliances and joint ventures. He was previously a scientist at IBM, according to an AP press release.

A graduate of the University of Madras, India, he holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Houston, and a JD from Columbia University.

Mr Kasi says the General Counsel is responsible for the legal affairs of the entire organisation. His primary role is to advise .

the company and senior management on a broad range of legal and compliance matters and to identify areas of risk and ways to mitigate them.

''These responsibilities are of particular significance in a US news organisation to ensure that the First Amendment protections for a free press are carefully used and safeguarded.'' he said.

He was answering questions posed by the South Asian Journalists (SAJA) Forum.

UNI