Coursera nabs new president from Kleiner Perkins

Red hot online education startup Coursera has recruited some top talent from iconic venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.

Above: Coursera’s new president, Lila Ibrahim

The company announced today that Lila Ibrahim will assume the role of President.

Ibrahim will focus on engineering and internal operations, according to AllThingsd, which originally reported the news. Cofounder Daphne Koller will lead university operations, and cofounder and co-CEO Andrew Ng will lead business development.

Ibrahim has worked as an operating partner at storied venture firm Kleiner Perkins since 2010. Prior to that, she worked at Intel for 18 years.

Coursera is one of the fastest growing education technology companies. It is the best known of the massive open online course providers (dubbed “MOOCS”), and offers free and cheap video courses from lecturers at elite universities like Stanford, Northwestern, and Yale.

In addition to investing, Ibrahim helps run a nonprofit, Team4Tech, which brings education technology to developing countries. Koller recently told me that Coursera will focus on emerging markets, and she is personally passionate about improving access to learning for young girls.

Kleiner is one of Coursera’s original investors — the firm invested in both the first and second rounds of funding. Ibrahim has worked closely with the company for almost a year.

Mountain View-based Coursera has raised about $65 million in venture funding in total.