BS People: Shailesh Rao

Search expert opts for microblogging

After being at the helm of Google India and Google Asia Pacific for over seven years, Shailesh Rao is now been roped in by micro-blogging service provider, Twitter.

Rao, who in his last role at Google as the managing director (media & platforms) for Asia-Pacific operations was looking after the various platforms of Google, is expected to add more muscle to the micro-blogging site’s Asian operations.

Although it is not clear what role he would be given at Twitter, reports by foreign agencies suggest that he is expected to look at the advertising size of the business. Moreover, with his familiarity with the Asian markets, he is likely to help Twitter aggressively push into these regions.

Rao, in his last stint with Google, brought in fresh ideas to increase the reach of display advertising and make such campaigns to become efficient, measurable and engaging for brand advertisers. No wonder, his experience in this space is going to help Twitter in future.

Rao, who had joined Google in 2005, had held various positions at Google before being he elevated as the MD-APAC. Prior to this, he was heading Google India as MD from 2007.

Earlier, he was a Director of local search for Google at its Mountainview headquarters. An MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Rao was also previously employed with banking-software firm Yodlee and Internet firm AOL.

Rao is a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BS from the Wharton School with a concentration in finance.