16 Key Leaders Behind Microsoft, the World’s Most Valuable Company
Microsoft has a tradition of promoting long-term employees to its most senior positions.
Microsoft, the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, has sustained its influence on the tech sphere since its founding by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. In recent years, the tech giant has emerged at the forefront of the A.I. boom—thanks to its early, strategic investment in OpenAI and the development of its own Microsoft A.I.
Microsoft’s central business falls into Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and Personal Computing. Productivity and Business Processes primarily include Office, LinkedIn, and Dynamics. The Intelligent Cloud encompasses Azure, Github, server products and enterprise services, while Personal Computing refers to Windows, Surface devices and Xbox gaming consoles.
Today, Microsoft employs over 221,000 people globally. The tech giant has a tradition of promoting long-term employees to its most senior positions. Members of its leadership team have spent an average of over 20 years at the company.
Here are the 16 key executives leading Microsoft’s sprawling tech empire, including eight C-Suite members and eight heads of Microsoft’s main products:
C-Suite executives:
Satya Nadella, 56, Chairman and CEO
Satya Nadella began his career at Microsoft in 1992 and was promoted to CEO in 2014. At Microsoft, he worked in various research, development, and business roles. Before being named CEO, Nadella was president of the Server and Tools Business unit for three years. He helped bring Microsoft’s database, Windows Server, and developer tools to its Azure cloud.
Brad Smith, 65, president and vice chairman
At Microsoft, while the CEO decides on high-level strategies, the president oversees the company’s day-to-day operations. Brad Smith became president of Microsoft in 2021, following his roles as executive vice president (EVP) and general counsel. Before joining Microsoft as its European associate general counsel, Smith was a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling. He was later promoted to deputy general counsel of the worldwide sales group and then general counsel and EVP, the highest-ranking title under CEO. Outside Microsoft, Smith is a board member at Netflix.
Amy Hood, 52, chief financial officer
Amy Hood is Microsoft’s first female chief financial officer, having been in the role since 2013. She previously worked in various business functions within the company, including as CFO of the business division, general manager of strategy and business development, senior director of server and tools business, and director of investor relations. She joined Microsoft from Goldman Sachs in 2002.
Takeshi Numoto, 52-53, chief marketing officer
Takeshi Numoto leads Microsoft’s global marketing efforts, including events and communications. During his 26-year tenure at the company, Numoto has held numerous marketing roles within Microsoft, including commercial chief marketing officer. Before Microsoft, Numoto was a trade negotiator for the Japanese government’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Judson Althoff, 51, chief commercial officer
Judson Althoff joined Microsoft in 2013 from Oracle, where he served in multiple executive positions for over a decade. At Microsoft, Althoff oversees sales strategy, execution and revenue growth for the company’s commercial business.
Kathleen Hogan, 56-58, chief people officer
Kathleen Hogan started at Microsoft’s human resources department in 2003 and was promoted to chief people officer in 2014. She previously served as corporate vice president of Microsoft Services and chief operating officer of Worldwide Sales.
Before joining Microsoft, Hogan was a partner at McKinsey & Company—where Microsoft was one of her clients—and a development manager at Oracle.
Hossein Nowbar, 56, chief legal officer
Hossein Nowbar joined Microsoft in 1997 and held various legal leadership roles, including general counsel, from which he was promoted to chief legal officer in September 2023. Before Microsoft, he was an attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine, a business litigation firm.
Nowbar has a broader and more strategic role as chief legal officer than the general counsel. He focuses on integrating legal considerations into Microsoft’s overall business strategy. In contrast, the general counsel focuses on managing the company’s legal functions and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations.
Main product heads:
Jason Zander, EVP of Microsoft Azure
Jason Zander has spent 32 years at Microsoft, including 12 at its cloud computing unit, Azure. He began as a software engineer at Microsoft in 1992. He was a product unit manager and general manager before being promoted to corporate vice president of the Visual Studio engineering team. Zander moved to Azure in 2012, serving as corporate vice president, and was promoted again to EVP in 2018.
Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming
Phil Spencer started his career at Microsoft as a programming intern in 1988 and has since worked in various technical and management roles. Spencer joined the Xbox team in 2001 and was promoted to CEO in March 2014. As CEO, he oversees the Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Xbox Video teams and the Microsoft Studios.
Ryan Roslansky, 46, CEO of LinkedIn
Ryan Roslansky began as CEO of LinkedIn in June 2020 after serving as chief product officer for over a decade. Roslansky replaced Jeff Weiner, who led LinkedIn as CEO for 11 years and oversaw Microsoft’s $26 billion acquisition of the company in 2016. Before LinkedIn, Roslansky was the senior vice president of products and content at Glam Media and Yahoo’s general manager and product manager.
Thomas Dohmke, 43-45, CEO of GitHub
Thomas Dohmke, trained in mechanical and computer engineering, co-founded HockeyApp in 2011. Microsoft acquired HockeyApp in 2015, and Dohmke began managing the team of program managers and working on various product developments. Dohmke started working specifically for GitHub in 2018 and was promoted to CEO in the fall of 2021.
Mustafa Suleyman, 39, CEO of Microsoft A.I.
Mustafa Suleyman is one of Microsoft’s newest senior management team members. A co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, he joined Microsoft in March to lead its consumer A.I. efforts through a newly formed unit called Microsoft A.I. Suleyman previously served as Google’s vice president of A.I. product management and policy following Google’s acquisition of DeepMind in 2014.
Yaron Galitzky (56) and Scott Fudally (44), VPs of Surface
Yaron Galitzky has worked at Microsoft for over 15 years as a director, senior director, and general manager before becoming vice president of Surface. Galitzky focuses on Surface devices and accessories. Before Microsoft, he spent 12 years at IBM, leading the development of chip designs and the XBox360.
Scott Fudally has led product engineering teams at Microsoft since 2008. He was previously a software engineer at Freescale Semiconductor, where he developed Windows Mobile 7 BSP for Freescale ICs and a senior software engineer at Motorola Mobility.
Shilpa Ranganathan (46) and Aidan Marcuss (45), corporate vice presidents of Windows
Shilpa Ranganathan came to Microsoft from Expedia, where she was the director of product management. At Microsoft, she held roles in product management, including principal group product manager for Azure and Windows phones, before becoming a partner group product manager for Windows and eventually corporate vice president of mobile and modern productivity experiences.
Aidan Marcuss started as a software engineer, working on teams at Towers Data Systems and Xilicon Incorporated, then went into business consulting at Monitor Group. He merged his software and business background during his 17 years at Microsoft, beginning with leading business strategy. Now, he leads the Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop Product Management team and Windows Ecosystem and Planning efforts.
Christopher Young, 48-49, EVP of business development strategy and ventures
Also, a relatively new executive at Microsoft, Christopher Young, joined the company in November 2020. He focuses on business development and strategy but has a background in cybersecurity. Before Microsoft, he was the CEO of McAfee, where he led the company’s spin-off from Intel. Young previously led cybersecurity efforts at Cisco, RSA, and AOL and co-founded Cyveillance.