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Feb. 14 proved to be a lucky number for 14 Microsoft executives promoted to new positions in a company reorganization aiming to focus the company’s leadership around its expanding portfolio of products and technologies.
Microsoft announced the management shuffle soon after disclosing the departure of several executives.
In the Valentine’s Day reorganization, seven former corporate vice presidents became senior vice presidents and seven executives at general manager level or above were named corporate vice presidents.
The seven executives promoted to senior vice president were Chris Capossela, Kurt DelBene, Antoine Leblond, Andy Lees, Satya Nadella, S. Somasegar and Bill Veghte. The seven executives promoted to corporate vice president are Walid Abu-Hadba, Brad Brooks, Larry Cohen, Steve Guggenheimer, Scott Guthrie, Roz Ho and Brian Tobey.
One of the standout moves in this reorganization is Bill Veghte becoming senior vice president of the Online Services & Windows Business Group. Veghte was previously corporate vice president for the Windows Business Group. However, Veghte will now be expected to leverage his experience in the Windows business and be responsible for all end-user business strategy, sales and marketing across Windows Client, Windows Live, MSN and Search, as well as maintaining shared responsibility for OEM sales.
Satya Nadella, formerly a Microsoft corporate vice president, is assuming the role of senior vice president of the Search, Portals & Advertising Group. Microsoft officials said Nadella will continue to lead Microsoft’s engineering efforts across Live Search, Microsoft AdCenter, and the Subscriptions, Points and Billing platforms. Nadella also will assume responsibility for managing MSN programming and engineering.
Meanwhile, Veghte, Nadella and Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group, will run the business strategy, sales, marketing and engineering efforts for Windows Live, Search and MSN, Microsoft said. That had been the responsibility of Steve Berkowitz, who will step down as senior vice president of the Online Services Group and leave the company in August 2008. Veghte, Nadella and McAndrews will report directly to Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms & Services Division.
Andy Lees, formerly corporate vice president of the Server & Tools Marketing and Solutions Group, will assume the role of senior vice president of the Mobile Communications Business. In his new role, Lees will oversee the development, marketing and sales of software and services that power mobile devices for business and consumer customers worldwide. Lees will replace Pieter Knook, who left Microsoft to join Vodafone.
The Developer Division, the Danger Team and More
In the Microsoft Developer Division, S. “Soma” Somasegar was promoted to senior vice president from his former role as corporate vice president of the division. Somasegar will continue to oversee all Microsoft developer-related languages, tools and platforms. He also leads the Microsoft India Development Center and the Microsoft Canada Development Centre.
The Developer Division also saw Scott Guthrie, formerly a general manager in the division, promoted to corporate vice president of .Net Developer Platform. In his new role, Guthrie will continue to oversee several development teams responsible for delivering Microsoft Visual Studio developer tools and Microsoft .Net Framework technologies for building client and Web applications.
Microsoft also promoted Chris Capossela to senior vice president of the Information Worker Product Management Group, where he will continue to manage Microsoft Office system products. Kurt DelBene was promoted to senior vice president of the Office Business Platform Group, and Antoine Leblond was promoted to senior vice president of the Office Productivity Applications Group.
“Along with attracting world-class talent from outside the company, one of my top priorities is growing Microsoft’s existing leadership team,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.
In addition to Guthrie, Microsoft named six other new corporate vice presidents, including Steve Guggenheimer, who is now corporate vice president of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division. Guggenheimer was formerly general manager of Application Platform Marketing, but will now lead the group that manages Microsoft’s relationships with PC makers and device manufacturers.
Walid Abu-Hadba is moving from general manager to corporate vice president of the Developer and Platform Evangelism Group. Abu-Hadba will continue to focus on platform strategy and evangelism of the Microsoft platform to developers, IT professionals and partners.
Brad Brooks will move from general manager of Windows Product Marketing to corporate vice president of Windows Consumer Product Marketing, while Larry Cohen will move from general manager to corporate vice president of Corporate Communications.
In addition, Microsoft promoted Roz Ho from general manager to corporate vice president of Premium Mobile Offerings. Ho will lead the new Danger team, which Microsoft recently acquired, and continue to focus on consumer-focused premium mobile offerings, the company said.
Finally, Brian Tobey is assuming the role of corporate vice president of Manufacturing and Operations for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division.