Freshworks Appoints Ex-ServiceNow exec Ryan Manning as Chief Product and Technology Officer

Freshworks has appointed Ryan Manning as its Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO), effective August 10, as the software company brings its product and technology organisations under a single leadership structure.

Manning will report to CEO Dennis Woodside and succeed Srini Raghavan, who is leaving the company to pursue an entrepreneurial venture. Murali Swaminathan will continue as Chief Technology Officer and report to Manning.

The appointment comes as Freshworks expands its presence among mid-market and enterprise customers. In his new role, Manning will lead the company's product and technology strategy across its AI, IT, and customer experience portfolios, overseeing the global product roadmap and engineering organisation.

“Ryan has the unique ability to quickly turn what customers need into products that win in the market," said Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks, in a statement. “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 organisation so we can move with more speed and less friction.”

Manning joins Freshworks after holding leadership roles at startups and enterprise software companies. He helped build and scale ServiceNow around the time of its IPO and co-founded FreeAgent CRM, now Servis.ai. Most recently, he served as Chief Product Officer at BMC Helix, where he led product strategy during the company’s transformation, including its focus on ServiceOps and agentic AI.

“AI is changing what businesses should expect from service software," Manning said. "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.”

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

Freshworks said the leadership change is intended to align product development and engineering under a single executive as AI reshapes enterprise software development and deployment.