CEO NO MORE: Sebastian Thrun, CEO of MOOC-provider Udacity, is stepping down from his position. Announced on April 22 on the Udacity blog, Thrun shared that Vishal Makhijani, the company’s chief operating officer, will be Udacity’s new CEO.
Makhijani joined Udacity three years ago as chief operating officer. He brings a long history of building businesses. Among his past positions: He had several executive positions as Zynga, including chief operating officer, and executive jobs at Yahoo including senior vice president for search and international search.
Thrun will continue to work full-time at Udacity as president and chairman, but writes that the change will allow him to focus on moving Udacity forward: "This will give me the ability to focus my time on what I am most passionate about—innovation and hitting our next moon shots."
He also highlights some of Udacity's recent achievements, including last week's launch of Udacity Connect, a platform designed for students to organize physical meetups.
