Microsoft Shakes Up Executive Roster

Published: February 20, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft completed another reorganization last week when it promoted 14 vice presidents to new positions within Windows Live, Server and Tools, Information Worker, and several other groups and divisions in the company. Three high-ranking executives have also left the company, the latest in the ongoing exodus of executive talent from Redmond.

Seven executives were promoted from corporate vice president to senior vice president within Microsoft, including:

• Chris Capossela, who will run the Information Worker Product Management Group in the Microsoft Business Division;
• Kurt DelBene, who will run the Office Business Platform Group in the Microsoft Business Division;
• Antoine Leblond, who will run Office Productivity Applications Group in the Microsoft Business Division;
• Andy Lees, who will run the Mobile Communications Business within the Entertainment and Devices Division. He takes the job previously held by Pieter Knook, who left Microsoft;
• Satya Nadella, who will run the Search, Portals & Advertising Group within the Online Services Business in the Platforms & Services Division, and take over responsibility for MSN programming and engineering;
• S. Soma Somasegar, who will take over the top job in the Developer Division of the Server and Tools Division;
• and Bill Veghte, who takes over the Online Services & Windows Business Group within the Online Services Business in the Platforms & Services Division.

Microsoft says that Veghte, Nadella, and Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group, will fill the void left by Steve Berkowitz, the former CEO of Ask.com and who had been heading Microsoft's Online Services Business as its senior vice president. Together, they will report to Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms & Services Division. Berkowitz will stay on through the summer to ease the transition.

Microsoft also promoted seven people from general manager to corporate vice president. These include:

• Walid Abu-Hadba, who now heads up the Developer and Platform Evangelism Group;
• Brad Brooks, who now heads up Windows consumer product marketing in the Windows Business Group. Brooks takes over the job of Michael Sievert, who is leaving Microsoft;
• Larry Cohen, who will work on executive communication and public relations as head of Corporate Communications for Microsoft;
• Steve Guggenheimer, who is now corporate vice president of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division in the Windows Business Group;
• Scott Guthrie, who is now the head of the .NET Developer Platform in the Server and Tools Group;
• Roz Ho, who will head the new Danger acquisition in the Mobile Communications Business;
• and Brian Tobey, who will oversee all manufacturing and IT functions in the Entertainment and Devices Division.

The shake-up is not unprecedented. Microsoft often moves people around following the mid year report card (Microsoft's fiscal year ends in June). But with Bill Gates set to leave the company later this year, the recent announcement that Business Division President Jeff Raikes will leave, and the firing of CIO Stuart Scott, there appears to be more than the usual level of churn among the executive ranks at Microsoft these days.

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