18-year Microsoft veteran to lead development of the company’s small and medium business offerings for Asia Pacific
SINGAPORE, 9th July, 2015 – Microsoft today announced Valerie Beaulieu as its general manager for Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners (SMS&P) in Asia Pacific.
Ms Beaulieu will be responsible for developing the company’s small and medium business offerings for Asia Pacific as the region continues to demand technologies across cloud, mobility, business intelligence and social. She will also be driving overall channel engagement for the Microsoft partner community, which is key in expanding the company’s reach in the region as more than 95 percent of Microsoft’s business is done through partners in Asia.
Microsoft has the industry’s largest partner ecosystem which serves billions of users across Asia Pacific, where there are about 39 million small and midsized businesses (SMBs). According to Asian Development Bank, these form the backbone of economies, as 98 percent of businesses in Asia Pacific are SMBs, accounting for 64 percent of employment, but contributing to only 38 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicating the huge growth potential of the segment.
Ms Beaulieu joins Microsoft Asia Pacific after three successful years in the U.S. at the company’s global headquarters with Worldwide Sales Operations & Strategy at Microsoft Advertising & Online, where she was most recently general manager and chief operations officer (COO). In that role, she orchestrated all revenue-related activities across the world to maximize monetization of Microsoft consumer products. Prior to joining Microsoft Advertising, Ms Beaulieu was sales director for Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners in France, where she doubled its growth and drove partner satisfaction scores to the highest in the subsidiary’s history.
During her 18-year tenure with Microsoft, she has held a number of senior positions both in Sales & Marketing, most notably sales director for the small & medium business in the French subsidiary for 5 years and director for Partner Marketing, building the Partner Engagement model for Microsoft EMEA between 2000 and 2003 as well as product manager for Windows CE in the early days of Microsoft Mobile engagement.
Ms Beaulieu said, “Technology plays a key role in enabling SMBs to compete in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, so developing our partner community to reach them is also critical to their success. The IT ecosystem has been core to our success for 35 years and will continue to be important to our ability to scale to the billions of users in Asia.”
Before joining Microsoft, Ms Beaulieu started her technology career as a marketing manager for one of the biggest European IT Resellers.
Ms Beaulieu is also a passionate advocate of diversity and a tireless crusader for Women in leadership. In addition to mentoring other women at Microsoft, she has also been the active sponsor of the Global Advertising Women’s Group. Ms Beaulieu is also recognized as a trailblazing woman in the MAKERS.com community.
Ms Beaulieu will report to István Papp, vice-president, Sales, Marketing & Services, Microsoft Asia Pacific. Mr Papp commented, “Advertising & Online is an extremely fast-paced environment, and Valerie has been a force in constantly re-evaluating the advertising business model and driving transformation while delivering results. I look forward to seeing her drive, passion and valuable experience from across various subsidiaries lift to new heights our SMS&P efforts in Asia Pacific, which continues to be one of the fastest-growing and most important regions for Microsoft.”
In her new role, she succeeds Ms Stanimira Koleva, who has decided to leave to pursue new opportunities. Mr Cernuda said, “We would like to thank Stanimira for her partnership and contributions in further strengthening our network of channels and partners. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
Ms Beaulieu relocates with her husband and two children to Singapore and commenced her new role on 3rd July 2015.
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About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
