• Illustration: The New Windows Team

A team of senior executives with years of experience in the Office group will take charge of Windows development just as Windows Vista nears completion. The new team has a mandate from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to release subsequent versions of Windows on a regular schedule, something that has recently eluded the Windows organization. Elsewhere, the company has named a new head for its business management applications business, reorganized its sales team for partners and smaller businesses under a new leader, reshuffled some key subsidiaries and sales regions, and completed an important management change in the product support organization.

This article summarizes Microsoft organization changes at the vice-presidential level and above since June 2006. For an overview of the company's organization, see the Sept. 2006 Directions on Microsoft OrgChart.

New Windows Team Leads Platforms Changes

The following major changes have been announced in the Windows organization and are shown in the illustration "The New Windows Team":

Jon DeVaan has replaced Brian Valentine as senior vice president of the Windows Core Operating System Division. Like Valentine, DeVaan will supervise development of the core components of Windows. He will also continue with his current task of defining and promoting improvements in the company's software engineering methods. DeVaan is a 22-year veteran of Microsoft, most recently leading its television platforms before a major reorganization and strategy shift in 2002. Prior to his television efforts, DeVaan led Office development, an experience that sharpened his interest in software development processes.

Brian Valentine has left Microsoft for a position at Amazon.com. Valentine joined the Windows organization in 1998 to bring Windows 2000 to market after a long, difficult development cycle, and he subsequently oversaw changes intended to speed the Windows build and test processes. Valentine also led the move of consumer Windows products to the Windows 2000 code base from the aging Windows 9x code, and he pushed hard for Windows security design improvements and process changes in the wake of the 2001 Code Red worm attack.

Julie Larson-Green has been named corporate vice president, Windows Experience Program Management. She will lead design of the user-facing components of Windows, drawing on her previous experience designing the new Office 2007 user interface. Her new role overlaps with that of Chris Jones, who currently leads program management for Windows. Larson-Green reports to Steven Sinofsky, for whom she previously worked indirectly, leading user interface design for Office. She joined Microsoft from the publishing software pioneer Aldus (subsequently acquired by Adobe) in 1993.

Grant George has been named corporate vice president, Windows Experience Test, reporting to Sinofsky. George's new role appears to overlap with that of Amitabh Srivastava, who has led test and build labs for all Windows development to this point. George previously led Office testing, having worked in that department since he joined Microsoft in June 1994 from Tandem Computers.

Other changes in the Platforms and Services organization reporting to copresidents Kevin Johnson and Jim Allchin include the following:

Amir Majidimehr has left the Windows group to form a new Consumer Media Technology group. The new organization will develop digital rights management and digital media technology for mobile devices and operators. Majidimehr previously led the now-disbanded Windows Digital Media division, which struggled to beat Apple and position the Windows PC as the dominant hub for digital music and video. Microsoft now appears to favor a less PC-centric digital music and video strategy, and that strategy is in the hands of other executives, such as Corporate Vice President J Allard, who is responsible for the planned Zune hardware and store. Majidimehr will report to Pieter Knook and retains the title of corporate vice president.

Martin Taylor has left Microsoft after four months as corporate vice president, Windows Live and MSN Marketing. The departure is surprising: Taylor had swiftly advanced through a series of strategically important and visible positions, first leading an initiative to improve customer and partner satisfaction (and reporting directly to Steve Ballmer), then spearheading Linux and Open Source competitive efforts, such as the "Get the Facts" campaign.

Ben Fathi has been promoted to corporate vice president, Security Technology Unit. He remains responsible for Windows security technologies (such as access control mechanisms) and the Security Response Center. Fathi joined Microsoft in 1998 from Silicon Graphics, where he previously directed OS development, and most recently led Microsoft's efforts to adapt Windows for dedicated storage devices with products such as Windows Storage Server.

New Business Solutions Chief

A new leader has been named for Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS), which finally achieved profitability in Microsoft's most recent fiscal year (which ended in June 2006) after several tumultuous years.

Satya Nadella, previously in charge of research and development for MBS, has replaced long-time division head Doug Burgum. Nadella has been with MBS since 2001 and has played a major role shaping the division's strategic plans; consequently, his promotion will probably not cause major changes to those plans, at least in the near term. Instead, Nadella will probably focus on executing stated MBS plans to consolidate its ERP products, integrate those products more effectively with other Microsoft products and recent technologies, and align MBS's sales and partner programs with mainstream Microsoft programs.

Doug Burgum will leave Microsoft in June 2007. Burgum has led MBS since its inception and his name has become synonymous with Great Plains, the business management and accounting software company he led since 1984 and sold to Microsoft in Dec. 2000. Nadella's promotion comes almost a year after Senior Vice President Burgum announced his intentions to step down from day-to-day leadership of MBS.

Over the past several years, MBS has undergone significant organizational and sales channel restructuring and has several times shifted its plans to reconcile the four separate but similar enterprise resource planning (ERP) products netted in Microsoft's acquisitions of Great Plains and Navision (in 2002). Although Microsoft claims to have searched externally for Burgum's replacement, it may have decided that promoting Nadella, a key architect of the group's current strategic plans and a Microsoft employee since 1992, would best assure customers and partners that Burgum's departure would not precipitate further turbulence.

New Manager for Partners

There have been a number of notable changes in the sales organization since June 2006.

Eduardo Rosini has been named corporate vice president, Worldwide Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners (SMS&P), replacing Orlando Ayala. Rosini will lead all of Microsoft's partner organizations as well as sales and marketing for small and medium businesses. Rosini was previously vice president of the Asia Pacific region and had led games and hardware sales and marketing in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, as well as in Japan. Rosini will report to Kevin Turner, rather than to Senior Vice President Doug Burgum as Ayala did.

Orlando Ayala has been named senior vice president, Emerging Segments Market Development. Ayala headed Microsoft's entire sales and marketing organization before creating and leading the SMS&P organization in 2003. At SMS&P, Ayala also directed company efforts to integrate the channels acquired with Great Plains and Navision. Veteran executives such as Ayala and Will Poole (former head of the company's Windows Client business) have seized on emerging markets as sources of growth because those markets have low rates of PC adoption and high rates of piracy. Satya Nadella will supervise the Microsoft Business Solutions marketing and business development teams, which previously reported to Ayala as part of SMS&P.

The Asia Pacific (APAC) region has seen several changes in the wake of Rosini's departure, including the following:

Emilio Umeoka has replaced Rosini as regional vice president, APAC. Like Rosini, he will supervise subsidiaries in Australia, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Umeoka was previously general manager of Microsoft Brazil, a position he took in 2002 after leaving Compaq. Before joining Compaq, he was president of Wild West Software, a major distributor of Microsoft software in Latin America. Umeoka will report to Jean-Philippe Courtois, president, Microsoft International, as did Rosini.

Ken Wye Saw has been named regional vice president, sales and marketing for APAC, replacing Chris Atkinson, with whom he effectively is swapping positions. Wye Saw previously ran the company's Southeast Asia region. He also has led sales to telecommunications, network service provider, and entertainment customers as general manager, Communications Sector for APAC, Greater China, and Japan; and served as the managing director of Microsoft Singapore for four years.

Chris Atkinson has been named vice president, Southeast Asia, replacing Ken Wye Saw, responsible for subsidiaries in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as business in developing countries such as Sri Lanka. Before taking the APAC sales and marketing leadership job in 2002, Atkinson led marketing for Microsoft's developer platform, including the launch of the .NET products and brand.

Other notable changes in Microsoft's sales organizations include the following:

Gordon Frazier has been named general manager, United Kingdom, and vice president, EMEA, replacing Alistair Baker. He will manage Microsoft's business in one of its largest subsidiaries after the United States. Frazier previously served in South Africa, first as head of enterprise sales and then as general manager of the subsidiary.

Alistair Baker, former general manager for the United Kingdom, remains with Microsoft in an undisclosed role.

Pfungwa Serima has been named managing director of Microsoft South Africa, replacing Gordon Frazier. Serima joined Microsoft in 2004 from Accenture and led professional services for the subsidiary.

Michel van der Bel has been named vice president, Public Sector, EMEA, replacing Jan Muehfeit. He will lead Microsoft's efforts to sell and market to public sector organizations in EMEA and supporting partners and their public sector customers in the region. Van der Bel formerly headed Microsoft's subsidiary in the Netherlands. He reports to Gerri Elliot, corporate vice president, Worldwide Public Sector.

Jan Muehfeit has been named vice president, Corporate and Government Strategy. He will lead corporate and government strategy in the EMEA region, focusing on policy issues such as competitiveness, economics, and educational systems. He will report to Neil Holloway.

Theo Rinsema has replaced Michel van der Bel as general manager, the Netherlands, and will lead Microsoft's business in that subsidiary.

Moore Transition in Support

Microsoft's support organization has undergone a leadership change.

Lori Moore, the longtime leader of Microsoft's product support organization, has handed off most of her former responsibilities to other managers. She remains with Microsoft as corporate vice president, Customer Service, and continues to lead customer service strategy. Moore joined the product support unit in 1998 and took over the unit from Kevin Johnson (now a company president) in 2000. She joined Microsoft in 1991 and advanced through federal sales and field sales strategy roles.

Richard Kaplan has been named vice president, Customer Service, Partners, and Automation. He takes over customer service strategy, online support, support for partners, and other duties from Moore. Kaplan most recently headed marketing and business development for the Security Business and Technology Unit, which was responsible for all of Microsoft's security products and technologies and has since been disbanded. He reports to Kathleen Hogan, who now has overall responsibility for customer service and support at Microsoft.

Resources

The announcement of Burgum's planned departure was covered in "Burgum to Relinquish MBS Top Spot" on page 29 of the Jan. 2006 Update.

A recent discussion of MBS's product consolidation strategy appears in "Dynamics Wave Two Promises Consolidated Product" on page 18 of the Aug. 2006 Update.