Social networking platform, Facebook has named Francis Jose, Manohar Hotchandani, and Paras Sharma to its growing partnership team in India as Directors.

All three of them will report to Manish Chopra, Director and head of partnerships, Facebook India.

Manish stated, “We are proud to expand our team with the addition of Francis, Manohar and Paras - who are not only leading industry talents but also share Facebook’s passion to create unique experiences that drive business value for our partners and bring the world closer together.”

Jose has joined as the new Director of mobile and connectivity partnerships for India and will be responsible for driving engagements across the telecom, ISP, and mobile devices industries in India. He joins from Samsung India Electronics and before that, he has had stints at Blackberry, Reliance Communications, Airtel, Aptech & BPL Mobile.

Meanwhile, Hotchandani will be the Director, business development and will be working across multiple opportunities in India, with a keen focus on growing gaming, commerce, AR/VR. He joins from Amazon where he led the Alexa voice service (AVS) business. Before that, he had had a long stint at Microsoft across multiple roles.

Sharma will be the Director for media partnerships and lead the charter across news, entertainment, sports, and music verticals for both Facebook and Instagram. He brings with him over 23 years of experience with media organizations like Viacom CBS Asia, Fox International Channels, and ESPN Star Sports.

Given that the three Directors have extensive experience in technology, telecom, media, and entertainment, these new appointments will help lead strategic partnerships and initiatives to support Facebook’s continued growth in India, with an overall aim for driving better value for business partners.