Discovery Adds Google Alum to Northeast Asia Team

SINGAPORE: Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific has appointed Jay Trinidad, who began his career at Google, as the senior VP and general manager of Northeast Asia.

In his new role, Trinidad will be charged with expanding the business and brands beyond pay-TV platforms. He will also be responsible for redefining Discovery’s suite of products to deliver compelling brand experiences to Millennial audiences. He will focus on the Japanese and Korean markets and is taking over the Japan business from Louis Boswell, who will head up Discovery’s Southeast Asia operations. Hee-Man Lee, the country manager for Korea, as well as his team, will be folded into Trinidad’s group.

Trinidad will be based in Tokyo and report to Arthur Bastings, the president and managing director of Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific. Bastings remarked: “As we inject digital into our DNA, I am thrilled to have someone of Jay’s caliber join our team. His expertise in pure-play digital and consumer-centric innovation is invaluable as we evolve and take Discovery to the next stage of growth, particularly in Northeast Asia, where we are looking to meaningfully invest and take full advantage of the region’s sophisticated and widespread wireless infrastructure.”

The former Google executive spent ten years at the company, rising to the post of head of consumer marketing and operations for the Asia region. At Google, Trinidad was responsible for driving millions of new users to Google Chrome. He was most recently with McDonald’s Japan as the VP of digital. Trinidad has also held senior roles at Gengo, an online people-powered translation platform, and mobile-payment gateway Square.