The Open Society Foundations have named Premesh Chandran as regional program director for their Asia Pacific Regional Office, leading the design and implementation of a bold new strategy for Open Society’s work in support of open and inclusive societies in the region.
“Premesh joins us at a critical time,” said Mark Malloch-Brown, president of the Open Society Foundations. “His nuanced understanding of the social, economic, and political factors that drive change in the region will be invaluable. Further, his experience as an entrepreneur will be instrumental in our efforts to support human rights and expand democratic inclusion across the Asia Pacific region.”
Chandran is the co-founder and former chief executive of Malaysiakini, Malaysia’s most popular independent news website. Despite operating within a challenging political environment, Chandran was able to lead Malaysiakini’s expansion to a readership of more than eight million people in English, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil. He also co-founded Asia Mobiliti, a technology company focused on improving public transportation and logistics, and has served as a business coach to more than 60 companies.
Chandran is the recipient of Asia Foundation’s Chang-Lin Tan Fellowship and a TED Senior Fellow.
“As an expert in new media and technology, Premesh has a deep understanding of the value of analytics in shaping strategy. This will be enormously beneficial to Open Society’s transformation, helping understand the impact our work is having and sharpen our approach to today’s toughest challenges,” said Malloch-Brown.
Chandran joins Open Society during an ongoing transformation that seeks to bring greater focus, integration, and scale to locally informed, and globally aligned, commitments to justice, equity, and expression. Open Society’s approach aims to deliver more coordinated and collaborative interventions through grant making, advocacy, strategic litigation, investment, and other tools.