Gopal Krishna appointed audience head at Yahoo! India

Krishna will be responsible for Yahoo!’s consumer services and content

Yahoo! India has announced the appointment of Gopal Krishna as audience head for its consumer services in the region. Based in Bangalore, Krishna will report to the Yahoo! managing director for international emerging markets, Keith Nilsson.

Krishna’s mandate at Yahoo! India will involve consumer centric responsibilities for the company’s digital services and content in the areas of communities, communications, media and entertainment, portals and search. His role includes marketing and business development responsibilities.

“In India, many users began their first email experience with Yahoo! I am excited about the opportunity to build upon this demonstrated success and contribute to the development of the Internet as it transforms our daily lives. It is a great time to be at Yahoo! India,” says Krishna in a statement.

Commenting on the appointment, Nilsson says, “With a proven track record for successfully managing companies and startups in the Internet space as well as driving rapid cycles of technology innovation, Gopal’s leadership skills are well suited to leading Yahoo! India’s efforts to deliver the best, most indispensable experiences on the Internet.”

Prior to joining Yahoo!, Krishna was working on a startup in the wireless industry since 2006. He is also a venture capitalist and private equity investor. He has served as president and chief executive officer of Skyware, a US based wireless company, for three years.

Krishna has served as president of the online portal, Rediff.com, in the US for a year. It was in 1999 that he moved to the digital industry by founding Thinkindia.com, which later merged with Rediff.com.

Krishna holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Hawaii (1991).