After 11 years as chief executive of LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner announced today that he is leaving that post to move into a new role as executive chairman of the company. Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn"s global head of product, will replace Weiner as CEO.
Weiner revealed the upcoming transition in an email to employees. He will begin his next role on June 1, 2020 after discussing the move with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, since last summer.
Roslansky"s transition to the CEO role has been recommended by Weiner, and the two have worked together for almost two decades spanning two companies. Roslansky helped to build LinkedIn"s marketing solutions business, where he was responsible for the development of LinkedIn’s Influencer program and publishing platform. He also oversaw the site"s home page and Feed, and led the acquisition of Lynda.com, among other endeavors.
As for his next role going forward, Weiner wrote in a blog post:
"I’ll also have the opportunity to do even more of what I already love doing: manifesting LinkedIn’s vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce and closing the Network Gap; working on The Compassion Project to help ensure that compassion is taught and practiced in every primary school in the U.S.; investing and coaching, and sharing what I’ve learned over 27+ years in business with the next generation of leadership talent."
In addition, Roslansky has elected Tomer Cohen to take on the role of head of product. Cohen was a founding member of LinkedIn"s mobile efforts and led its Marketing Solutions product.