STORM BRINGER

Since the 1980s, Kannan Chandran has been a participant and observer of the media industry. He has seen and been a part of the storms of change that have blown through an industry that has shifted and changed gears to keep pace with technology and ideology.

In this time, he has interviewed major personalities who have influenced and defined their industries: Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson (pictured left), HE Eduardo Frei, then President of Chile; Ken Done, Australian artist and UNICEF Ambassador; Dr Stephen Riady, President of the Lippo Group of companies; Dominico De Sole, then President & CEO of Gucci group; Marcello Bottoli, then CEO of Samsonite; Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones fame; Tina Turner; Elton John; Guns N Roses, Ravi Shankar, Norah Jones, among many others.

Kannan’s career has spanned many aspects of print journalism. As a newspaper journalist with The Straits Times, he covered the arts – theatre, music, movies – and the media industry.

As the Managing Editor at Magazines Incorporated, he helmed editorial departments in the region, and worked with editorial and design teams to shape the future direction of The Peak in the region. He also developed magazines for American Express, Singapore Airlines, Standard Chartered Bank, Mercedes-Benz, HSBC, Raffles Hotel, among others.

He set up E-Quill Media in 2000 with the aim of developing new concepts in media. One of his first projects was developing C-Sphere, the global business magazine of Caltex. He authored Blue + White Retreats, a book for Club Med on its Asia-Pacific resorts.

He was the founding partner of Global Magazines, and publisher of WEALTH, a magazine that charted new ground in the local publishing scene. The monthly magazine featured in-depth interviews with global business leaders and was much sought after by an international audience. During this time, Kannan actively sought and secured the rights to publish Robb Report in five countries in Southeast Asia.

Global Magazines was sold to the Yellow Pages Group in 2008.

In August 2009, STORM was unleashed. A magazine like no other in the industry, it contains opinion pieces and researched articles on all aspects of life, business and community. The landscape format, special paper stock and out-of-the-box design of the magazine has created a stir in the community.

kannan@storm.sg
Find out more about Kannan Chandran