LinkedIn names Nishant K Rao as country manager, India; Hari Krishnan takes on bigger role

LinkedIn, a professional network with 187 million global members, has named Nishant K Rao as the new country manager for India. In his new role, Rao will focus on scaling up the operations and effectively help with enterprise hiring, marketing and sales. His appointment follows the promotion of the former country manager, Hari V Krishnan, who is now serving a bigger role as the managing director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Japan.

"Indian marketers and recruiters are fast realising the potential of LinkedIn's member base and are leveraging the platform for targeted campaigns. I am excited about the opportunity to work with LinkedIn India team," said Rao.

With a member base of 18 million professionals in India, the country is one LinkedIn's fastest-growing markets and also the largest outside the US.

Prior to his appointment as country manager, Rao was director, business operations, and head of global sales strategy at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California. He has more than 10 years of industry experience and earlier worked with companies such as McKinsey and ARIBA Inc. He is also a founding member of Epicentre Technologies, one of the first call centers set up in India.

Rao holds an MBA in Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and International Business from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas, Austin.

LinkedIn had earlier appointed AL Jagannath as head of trade marketing for India, to drive existing and new initiatives for the company's marketing and hiring solutions and also to increase awareness regarding LinkedIn's customised solutions available for advertisers and recruiters in the Indian market.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)