Hari Krishnan named LinkedIn's new MD for Asia-Pacific

Krishnan, who was previously LinkedIn country manager in India, is tasked with serving the company’s 37 million customers in Asia-Pacific and Japan through its offices in India, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. Krishnan’s predecessor Arvind Rajan has moved into the role of managing director and vice-president for new markets. Rajan will concentrate on evaluating global market opportunities.

“Our primary goal in 2013 will be to educate our customers on how our platform is the most effective place to engage with professionals,” said Krishnan.

Another key goal for the new MD is to partner more closely with Asia-Pacific companies. An example of this is 8 Securities in Hong Kong, which built its brand using LinkedIn in a market dominated by traditional banks and brokerage firms.

Samsung also used the platform to get brand advocates on the network to vote for the Galaxy Note II. “This created separation from their competition,” Krishnan added.

In his new role, Krishnan is also keen to grow the number of LinkenIn users in the region. Of the 37 million LinkedIn profiles, India accounts for 17 million, while Australia makes up 3 million. There are 4 million LinkedIn users in Southeast Asia. “LinkedIn has grown tremendously in the region over the past year, but we are still in the early stages of our expansion,” he said.

Krishnan, who joined LinkedIn in 2009, was the company’s first employee in Asia. He has relocated to Singapore, LinkedIn’s regional sales and marketing hub. Nishant K. Rao has been named the new country manager for India. Prior to this, Nishant was director for business operations at LinkedIn’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.