Microsoft has reportedly reshuffled its top management team resulting in the departure of several senior executives. This perhaps is the company’s biggest organizational shake-up yet under CEO Satya Nadella.
Four of the executives bidding a goodbye are former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, Microsoft Business Solutions head Kirill Tatarinov, advanced strategy chief Eric Rudder, and chief insights officer Mark Penn, the former Clinton political adviser. All will leave Microsoft following a transitional period (with the exception of Penn, who is leaving in September for another role).
In an email sent to Microsoft employees, CEO Satya Nadella noted that “To better align our capabilities and, ultimately, deliver better products and services our customers love at a more rapid pace, I have decided to organise our engineering effort into three groups that work together to deliver on our strategy and ambitions.”
Stephen Elop previously worked for Microsoft, between 2008 and 2010, as head of its business division where he was responsible for Microsoft Office. Later on he became CEO of Nokia, before transitioning back to Microsoft during its acquisition of Nokia in 2013, to run its devices business.
Noting Elop’s departure, Nadella wrote, “Stephen and I have agreed that now is the right time for him to retire from Microsoft. I regret the loss of leadership that this represents, and look forward to seeing where his next destination will be.”
According to Microsoft, the “devices group” run by Elop will now be folded into a new division called the “Windows and Devices Group (WDG)” and will be run by Terry Myerson, an executive vice president who will also continue to oversee the company’s flagship Windows operating system. Kirill Tatarinov’s group will now become part of the cloud and enterprise team led by Scott Guthrie, while Qi Lu, the head of Microsoft’s applications and services group, will take over the education initiatives unit that was led by Rudder.
Chief Insights Officer Mark Penn will leave Microsoft in September to form a private equity fund, in a move unrelated to the restructuring change.
Post the reshuffle, Microsoft’s new management team includes-
- Chris Capossela, executive vice president and chief marketing officer
- Kurt DelBene, executive vice president, corporate strategy and planning
- Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, cloud and enterprise
- Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer
- Kathleen Hogan, executive vice president, human resources
- Peggy Johnson, executive vice president, business development
- Qi Lu, executive vice president, Applications and Services Group
- Terry Myerson, executive vice president, Windows and Devices Group
- Harry Shum, executive vice president, technology and research
- Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel, legal and corporate affairs
- Kevin Turner, chief operating officer
- Jill Tracie, Chief of Staff
