Freshworks appoints Ryan Manning as Chief Product and Technology Officer

Freshworks has appointed Ryan Manning as its new Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO), bringing product and engineering under a single leadership structure as the company sharpens its focus on AI-powered service software.

Manning will join the company on 10 August and report directly to Chief Executive Officer Dennis Woodside. He succeeds Srini Raghavan, who is leaving Freshworks to pursue an entrepreneurial venture.

Murali Swaminathan will continue as Chief Technology Officer and report to Manning.

Leadership structure aligned around AI

The appointment combines product and technology strategy under one executive as Freshworks expands its presence among mid-market businesses and agile enterprises.

In his new role, Manning will lead product and technology strategy across Freshworks' AI, IT and customer experience portfolio. He will oversee the company's global product roadmap and engineering organisation, with responsibility for advancing its AI-powered platform.

Dennis Woodside, Chief Executive Officer of Freshworks said, "Ryan has the unique ability to quickly turn what customers need into products that win in the market."

"As AI changes how quickly and how deeply our customers can put new capability to work, we're excited to bring product and engineering back together under a single organization so we can move with more speed and less friction,” he added.

Experienced product leader joins Freshworks

Manning joins Freshworks after leadership roles across both start-ups and global software companies.

He helped build and scale ServiceNow during the years surrounding its initial public offering and later co-founded FreeAgent CRM, now known as Servis.ai.

Most recently, he served as Chief Product Officer at BMC Helix, where he led the company's product strategy during a period of transformation. 

His work focused on strengthening ServiceOps capabilities, advancing agentic AI and bringing product and technology teams closer together.

Commenting on his appointment, Manning said, "AI is changing what businesses should expect from service software."

He added, "Having built service management products across startups and global software businesses, I believe Freshworks is uniquely positioned to lead the shift – combining powerful capability with rapid impact in a way the market needs right now."

Focus on AI-powered growth

Freshworks said the leadership change reflects its strategy of integrating product and engineering more closely as AI reshapes enterprise software.

Manning holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance from San Diego State University and serves on the board of the university's Computer Science programme. He will be based at the company's headquarters in San Mateo, California.