Online learning platform Udemy has appointed Venu Venugopal as the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In this role, Venugopal will lead the engineering, data science and IT efforts to bolster the global growth of the company, said a statement.
Venugopal joins Udemy from Expedia, where he was Vice President of Engineering for HomeAway, the online marketplace for vacation homes. Prior to that, Venugopal founded, architected, and led the development of Maya, the 3D-character animation and visual effects platform, which won an Oscar for technical contributions to the film industry.
He also led the development of Adobe Flash, the highly successful platform for delivering rich, engaging experiences across multiple devices. Venu holds masters degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada.
“We’re thrilled that Venu has joined the Udemy team,” said Gregg Coccari, CEO of Udemy. “As we remain committed to helping students, companies, and governments everywhere gain the skills they need to compete in today’s economy, we look forward to working with Venu to scale our business, continue to innovate on our platform, and deliver an even better experience to the millions who teach and learn on Udemy.”
“It’s an honor to join a mission-driven company like Udemy and lead such a talented team,” said Venugopal. “Knowing that the work we do directly impacts the lives of millions is both a privilege and a great responsibility. I’m excited to join the team and drive a new era of innovation and user experience.”
