LinkedIn India's MD to join Freshdesk as COO

Nishant Rao will be responsible for all non-R&D aspects of Freshdesk

Freshdesk, a cloud based customer support software company, has named Nishant Rao, LinkedIn India Managing Director, as its Chief Operating Officer. Rao will be responsible for all non R&D aspects of Freshdesk's activities across each of its offices worldwide.

His role would include front office functions like sales and marketing as well as critical support functions like human resources, recruitment, facilities and public relations, among others, said the company.

Nishant's expertise in scaling operations across global markets will help Freshdesk's executive team, said Girish Mathrubootham, CEO and founder, Freshdesk.

"Nishant brings with him a unique blend ofbusiness and technical skills; his being a strong culture champion, during his days at LinkedIn, makes him a perfect fit for Freshdesk," he said.

Nishant is currently the Chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and serves on the Advisory Board for the National Committee on Skill Development, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

He will remain Managing Director of LinkedIn India until he begins his new role at Freshdesk in November.

Over the past two years, he has played a key role in successfully scaling LinkedIn's operations in India, including doubling its member base, accelerating their business lines and scaling the team in India. Prior to that, he held several executive positions at LinkedIn, McKinsey and Ariba. He started his career as one of the founding members of Epicenter Technologies, India's first voice-based call centre.

Nishant holds an MBA degree from MIT's Sloan School of Management and a Bachelors in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

Earlier this year, Freshdesk announced a $50 million funding round . The company has been growing rapidly, doubling its customer base in the past year to more than 50,000 customers in 145 countries.