Shen, who will be based in Beijing, will also carry the title of vice president at LinkedIn and will report to CEO Jeff Weiner at the company’s headquarters in California. LinkedIn has not officially entered the China market, although speculation that it is about to do so has been rising in recent weeks. Local media in China have reported that the company is waiting for a licence approval to enter the market.
A LinkedIn spokesperson confirmed the appointment after Campaign Asia-Pacific contacted the company off a tip. "LinkedIn has more than 4 million members in China already," the spokesperson said, adding that Shen's "extensive experience in the China Internet space positions him well to lead our efforts to explore what makes the most sense for LinkedIn, our members and clients in China".
According to his LinkedIn profile, Shen founded group-buying site Nuomi.com in February 2010, before which he served as a vice-president at Renren.com and as head of business development at Google China. He worked at Yahoo in California earlier in his career.
Shen has a Master’s degree in Computer Sciences as well as a PhD candidate in Environmental chemistry, both from UCLA.