A
longtime Microsoft tools executive has left the software giant for a larger
role at a smaller company in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Dave
Mendlen, who was most recently senior director of the Visual Studio business at
Microsoft, has been named chief marketing officer at DevExpress, effective September 10, 2011. DevExpress is a
Microsoft partner that provides controls, IDE productivity tools, business
application frameworks, and reporting systems for Visual Studio.
Mendlen
served at Microsoft for nearly 15 years. Prior to becoming senior director of
Visual Studio, Mendlen served as the speechwriter for Microsoft co-founder Bill
Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer.
Also
during his time at Microsoft, Mendlen was the director of Web Services strategy
in the Developer Platform and Evangelism division responsible for driving Web
Services excitement and standards across the industry. He also served as the
director of Windows Product Management responsible for the marketing of Windows
XP Home, Pro, Tablet PC and Windows XP Media Center Edition. Mendlen started at
Microsoft in the Developer division and served as the lead product planner on .NET
and Visual Studio .NET.
“We
are very excited to have Dave Mendlen leading DevExpress into its next era of
growth,” said Ray Navasarkian, CEO of DevExpress, in a statement. “He is the
exact combination of seasoned technology executive and savvy leader that we
were looking for, and we are thrilled to have attracted such a
developer-focused executive to DevExpress.”
Also
in a statement, Mendlen added: "DevExpress is a powerful and trusted
developer brand… I look forward to working together with the DevExpress
leadership team to take it to the next level. On the eve of announcements
related to Windows 8 and Visual Studio 11 by Microsoft, I believe there has
never been a better opportunity to create new possibilities for DevExpress, its
loyal customers and partners.”
Mendlen
said he will be in attendance at Microsoft’s BUILD conference in Anaheim,
Calif., where the software giant plans to
shed more light on its developer strategy for Windows 8. BUILD runs Sept. 13-16.
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