UpGrad has announced the appointment of Ferzad Palia to set up and head its new direct-to-consumer (D2C) initiative. Palia will lead the charge at the edtech to build a digital-first ecosystem powered by micro-learning formats, AI-driven personalisation, and scalable access, with an aim to make learning more continuous, contextual and consumer centric. 

Palia moves from JioStar (earlier Viacom18), where he most recently served as senior EVP.

Ronnie Screwvala, co-founder and chairperson, upGrad, said, “It strengthens our mission to own the entire learning journey and turns skilling into a household habit, not just a job-switch trigger. Ferzad’s deep expertise in building high-scale, high-engagement content-driven platforms will help us unlock a wider segment - combined with tech that appeals to their fast-learning patterns."

Palia added, “The opportunity to transform India’s upskilling and learning landscape at scale, is an exciting mandate. upGrad’s solid foundation and commitment to outcome-led learning provides the perfect springboard”.

In a career spanning over 25 years, Palia served a stint of over 18 years at Viacom18 Media. He also worked with CNBC-TV18, having started his career at J Walter Thompson.