LinkedIn India MD Nishant Rao to exit in November

Freshdesk, a cloud-based customer support software company, has announced the appointment of LinkedIn India MD Nishant Rao as its chief operating officer. 
 

His role at Freshdesk will come into effect in November, when he moves from LinkedIn India. 
 

Rao said, “I am very excited about going back to my entrepreneurial roots and playing a meaningful role in shaping Freshdesk to become a global powerhouse. The company’s unique culture and extremely talented team, mixed with its disruptive product, position the company as a strong market leader. With its fresh consumer approach to enterprise SaaS, I believe we can fundamentally transform the way all small and medium-sized businesses worldwide interact with their customers.”

Rao also serves as the chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and as advisory board member for National Committee on Skill Development, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

He joined the professionals network as country manager for India in early 2013, moving from the company's headquarters in Mountain View, where he was director, business operations – head of global sales strategy. He joined LinkedIn in September 2011 and has worked at McKinsey and ARIBA in past assignments.