LinkedIn appoints Akshay Kothari as country manager for India

The former CEO and co-founder of Pulse will also lead product initiatives in India.

The digital professional network LinkedIn has announced the appointment of Akshay Kothari as country manager for India, with immediate effect. He will report to Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn's managing director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Kothari joined LinkedIn in 2013 when Pulse, the company he co-founded, was acquired by LinkedIn. Since then, Kothari, who was based in LinkedIn's global headquarters in Mountain View, California, led several major product and content initiatives. He was instrumental in making Pulse one of the fastest-growing consumer products on LinkedIn, and helped boost the number of members publishing on LinkedIn from 1,000 to nearly 2,00,000 in the last two years.

"I'm excited to have this opportunity to work with our teams across India, from sales, to product and engineering. The new role also brings me back 'full-circle' to India, a high-growth market, where there are opportunities abound to create even more value for our members and clients," says Kothari on his new role.

Speaking about the new appointment, Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn's managing director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC), comments, "India continues to be a strategic market for LinkedIn. While we have come a long way over the past six years in the country, we still have a long runway of opportunities to deliver even more compelling experiences and value for our members and clients. Kothari's successful track record as an entrepreneur, leader and product executive will be a boost to our efforts, as he leads our team in the next stage of growth in India."

An Indian national, Kothari has lived and worked in the US for the past 12 years, primarily in California. He holds a Master's degree in Science from Stanford University, and a Bachelor's degree in Science from Purdue University. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Purdue University.

LinkedIn, with more than 400 million members, has offices around the world. India has the second largest base of LinkedIn members globally, second only to the US. Over the past six years, the platform claims to have witnessed a 10-fold increase in its member base, having touched more than 33 million. In November 2015, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Placement, its first 'Made in India, for India' product, which makes it easier for graduating students across India to find their first job, as well as for placement officers and recruiters to manage campus placement initiatives.