Guru Gowrappan, Viasat President. Photo: Viasat

Viasat has named former Verizon Media executive K. Guru Gowrappan as president, to work closely with CEO Mark Dankberg on the company’s global operations and growth strategy. Dankberg said in an April 13 release that his appointment will help the company realize its operational and financial goals enabled with the ViaSat-3 constellation and the pending Inmarsat acquisition.

Gowrappan was previously CEO of Verizon Media Group, the media division of Verizon Communications, which included Yahoo, HuffPost, TechCrunch and other brands. Gowrappan led the Verizon media and advertising subsidiary starting in 2018 after former AOL CEO Tim Armstrong left, when AOL and Yahoo were consolidated into a single platform. 

According to his Viasat bio, Guru led Verizon Media to growth by delivering new products and customer revenue across core businesses including consumer, B2B and digital advertising. He also reinvigorated the company’s subscription and transaction-based monetization, delivering double digit growth for multiple quarters.

In September 2021, Apollo Global Management acquired Yahoo, rebranded from Verizon Media, and Gowrappan took on a new role as a senior advisor to Apollo. 

He has also held other leadership roles with Yahoo and served as global managing director of e-commerce giant Alibaba. In addition, he previously served as COO for growth and emerging initiatives at video game company Zynga, helping the company through its IPO process. 

“Guru is an accomplished leader with extensive international technology experience,” Dankberg said. “His experience in integrating large technology organizations, operating and growing one of the world’s largest internet platforms, delivering content to hundreds of millions of users, identifying new growth opportunities and creating powerful global partnerships are especially pertinent as we scale our fixed and mobile businesses globally.” 

Gowrappan spoke to joining Viasat at a “transformative” time for the company. “The satellite industry is experiencing unprecedented change in the way customers experience connectivity, interactivity and mobility,” he said. “The Viasat team is the best in the business, having developed a strong foundation in serving customers and delivering products with a technology advantage. I am committed to building on this momentum with Mark while continuing to strengthen our customer-first approach.”

This is the latest change in the highest level of Viasat leadership in the last few years. In late 2020, Dankberg, who co-founded Viasat in 1986, shifted his role to executive chairman of the company. At that time, then-president and COO Rick Baldridge was named as CEO, but Dankberg returned to the CEO role in June 2022. Baldridge is now vice chairman. 

Viasat is preparing for the launch of its long-awaited Viasat-3 satellite, set for April 18 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The company also confirmed this date on Thursday.

More: AdExchanger, an Access Intelligence publication, interviewed Gowrappan in 2020 when he was CEO of Verizon Media. Listen here on the Social Distancing With Friends podcast.