• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 19, 2013

Former top Google sales executive Penry Price has joined LinkedIn as vice president, global sales for marketing solutions.

In his new role, Price will be responsible for building “the strategic partnerships needed to raise awareness and drive revenue for LinkedIn and LinkedIn’s customers,” according to a blog post today by Mike Gamson, senior vice president, global solutions at Linkedin. He will be based in the company’s New York office and report to Gamson, LinkedIn’s top ad sales executive.

Previously, Price was president of ad-targeting firm Media6Degrees, which he joined in 2011 after a seven-year tenure at Google, where he managed the search giant’s U.S. ad sales under Tim Armstrong. Following Armstrong’s departure to become AOL CEO in 2009, Price became head of agency relations.

He joined Google before its IPO in 2004 from Us Weekly, where he served as advertising director.

Price’s hiring comes on the heels of David Thacker joining LinkedIn as vice president, product for Marketing Solutions, the company’s ad unit. Thacker, another Google veteran, was most recently vice president, product management, at Groupon. He works in LinkedIn’s Mountain View, Calif. office.

LinkedIn saw ad revenue grow 36% to $85.6 million in the second quarter, accounting for almost a quarter of its total revenue. That growth was down steeply, however, from the 56% gain in the prior quarter, as it transitions from a reliance on traditional display ads and customized ad offerings to new native ad formats like sponsored updates, which appear in users’ news feeds on LinkedIn. Analysts have predicted the shift would slow the company's ad growth through this year.

LinkedIn has recently continued to ramp up its content offerings, expanding its line-up of “Influencer” bloggers, revamping its LinkedIn Today digital newspaper and introducing new tech-oriented discussion groups with IDG Communications.

It also debuted LinkedIn Contacts, a new resource to help its 238 million users create and maintain professional relationships.