Microsoft Announces Strengthened Executive Management Teams

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 3, 1999 — Microsoft Corp. President Steve Ballmer today announced a series of companywide executive promotions and moves designed to strengthen the management teams of each product group and accelerate the company’s vision for creating great products and services that can be accessed any time and from any device.

Heading the list of promotions, Jim Allchin and Bob Muglia have been promoted to group vice presidents for the Platforms Group and the Business Productivity Group, respectively.

Allchin has overall responsibility for the Microsoft® Windows® family of operating systems, streaming media and all associated marketing. He joined Microsoft in 1990 with the initial charter of driving the company’s networking product strategy. Since then he has led the development and marketing efforts for Microsoft’s high-end systems software, including Windows 2000.

Muglia has overall responsibility for managing the development of Microsoft Office, the Microsoft BackOffice® family and software for productivity appliances (e.g., Palm-size PCs, eBooks, Tablets). He joined Microsoft in 1988 and has served in a variety of positions, including senior vice president for Microsoft’s former Applications and Tools Group. In that capacity, he was responsible for managing the development of the Microsoft Office and BackOffice suites as well as developer tools.

Ballmer also announced that the Consumer and Commerce Group headed by Group Vice President Rick Belluzzo has been renamed and realigned as the Consumer Group.

“Today’s moves build upon and accelerate the reinvention of Microsoft announced earlier this year by deepening our bench of management talent with strong leadership teams focused on creating the very best products and services – accessible any time and from any device – for our customers,”
Ballmer said.
“These promotions are a formal affirmation of each one of these individual’s dedication and long-term contribution to Microsoft in a leadership capacity. Each and every one of them has consistently demonstrated accountability, the ability to think strategically on a global scale, and is respected by both peers and customers. These are well-deserved promotions that reflect the ever-increasing level of their business responsibilities and capabilities.”

Consumer Group

As part of the realignment, Belluzzo announced the creation of a Consumer Services Division (CSD) within the Consumer Group (CG). The CSD will be headed by David Cole, who has been promoted to senior vice president. Its mission is to provide an intuitive and empowering consumer experience, world-class communication and collaboration services, and high-quality Internet access that consumers need to access the Everyday Web any time, anywhere, and on any device.

Cole was previously vice president of Consumer Windows Division. He joined Microsoft in 1986 and has served in a variety of positions, including vice president of the Web Client and Consumer Experience Division, where he was responsible for developing Web client technology in Windows. Before that, he held positions in product support and product development, with key responsibilities related to Windows 3.1 and managing development of Windows 95.

Belluzzo also announced that Microsoft’s Home and Retail Division, headed by Vice President Robbie Bach will join CG, as will the Consumer Strategy and Partnerships division, headed by Vice President Hank Vigil. The Home and Retail Division will continue to develop leading consumer software and hardware products such as the Microsoft Mouse, the Encarta® multimedia encyclopedia, Flight Simulator and Works, and is also responsible for retail sales for all Microsoft’s products, including Microsoft Office and Windows.

The Consumer Group will consist of seven divisions reporting to Belluzo. The new management team will include Robbie Bach, vice president of the Home and Retail Division; Brad Chase, senior vice president, MSN.com TM ; David Cole, senior vice president, Consumer Services Division; Jon DeVaan, senior vice president, TV Service and Platform Business; Lewis Levin, vice president, TransPoint; Moshe Lichtman, vice president, CG International; and Hank Vigil, vice president of Consumer Strategy and Partnerships.

Platforms Group

Allchin also announced that the previously separate Consumer Windows Division and Business and Enterprise Division have been combined to form the Windows Division, which will be led by Brian Valentine. Valentine has been promoted to senior vice president. He joined Microsoft in 1987 and served in a variety of positions, including management of Windows 2000 and the Exchange and BackOffice product units. He also worked on Microsoft Mail and Microsoft Exchange Server. Before that, he was an engineering manager in the LAN Manager Group. Vice President Deborah Willingham is now responsible for all Windows marketing and will continue to report to Allchin.

Anthony Bay has been promoted to vice president of the Streaming Media Division. He is responsible for Windows Media TM technologies, Microsoft’s digital media platform business. Windows Media has wide-ranging applications that include Internet audio and video, digital music downloads, and corporate training and communications. Previously, Bay was general manager of Microsoft’s Commercial Systems Division, responsible for Site Server and Microsoft Commercial Internet System. He joined Microsoft as part of the MSN management team in 1994.

Business Productivity Group

Bob Muglia announced the creation of a Small Business Division. This division will allow Microsoft to bring together a cohesive set of electronic-commerce and knowledge worker services specifically designed to meet the needs of small and growing companies. bCentral, a Web-based business portal managed by Satya Nadella, will become a part of the Small Business Division.

Muglia also announced the promotions of Steven Sinofsky to senior vice president, Microsoft Office; Paul Gross to senior vice president, Server Applications; and Brian MacDonald, vice president, New Application Technologies. Sinofsky is responsible for the Microsoft Office business, including the Microsoft Office desktop productivity applications and the new Office Online Service. He joined Microsoft in 1989 and has served in a variety of positions, including general manager of Microsoft Office where he oversaw the development of Microsoft Office 2000. Before that, he served in various program management capacities on Microsoft Office and as a software design engineer in development tools.

Gross is responsible for the Microsoft Exchange and BackOffice businesses as well newly emerging wireless services including Microsoft ICSA, a wireless e-mail system that became part of Microsoft through the acquisition of Sendit. Gross joined Microsoft in 1996 as vice president of Developer Tools. Before joining Microsoft, he was senior vice president of research and development at Borland International Inc.

MacDonald leads a group focused on new application development. He joined Microsoft in 1989 as a development manager for Microsoft Project, which became the industry’s leading project management solution. He later started and led the team creating the Microsoft Outlook® messaging and collaboration client.

Developer Group

Developer Group Vice President Paul Maritz announced the promotions of David Vaskevitch to senior vice president for the Developer Group and Paul Flessner to vice president for SQL Server TM .

Vaskevitch drives the developer mission and helped constitute the Developer Group when it was formed earlier this year. He also is responsible for key areas of programming tools and infrastructure and data access. He joined Microsoft in 1986 and served in a variety of positions, including general manager of Enterprise Computing, where he developed the initial vision of ubiquitous servers, highly distributed computing and component-driven development. Previously, he helped found Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and served as its chief technologist.

Flessner is responsible for the development and engineering of Microsoft’s database business and products. He joined Microsoft in 1994. Microsoft SQL Server is a full-featured object-relational database management system scaling from handheld devices through enterprise servers.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft, Windows, BackOffice, Encarta, MSN.com, Windows Media and Outlook are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries/regions.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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