Prajavani editor K.N. Shanth Kumar has been named as the new chairman of WAN-Ifra's South Asia committee, succeeding K. Balaji who has stepped down.

Shanth Kumar (pictured), who is a director of The Printers Mysore in Bangalore, was unanimously elected at a meeting held the India conference in Kolkata last month.

The committee was established in 2004, and has been responsible for a number of industry-leading projects including the setting up the Research and Material Testing Centre in Chennai. It was also instrumental in WAN-Ifra setting up the World Printers Forum - of which K. Balaji was the first chairman - as the central point of the international news media print community.

The Chennai centre has also been a major player in the organisation of the current International Color Quality Club.

Newly appointed in Chennai is M Srinivasan, who joins WAN-Ifra as manager of sales and events, a role in which he will be responsible for WAN-Ifra's events and expo services in the region. He comes from a background in business development and account management, and previously worked for Timesjobs.com as sales business development manager. Srinivasan replaces V. Antony who left in March to pursue family business interests in Kerala.