Stephen Elop departs Microsoft, Terry Myerson now leads the new Windows and Devices Group

Microsoft has announced some big shifts in its leadership team, which include the departure of Stephen Elop, who was previously the Executive Vice President of Microsoft's Devices and Services division.

Microsoft stated:

"Executive Vice President Terry Myerson will lead a newly formed team, Windows and Devices Group (WDG), focused on enabling more personal computing experiences powered by the Windows ecosystem. This new team combines the engineering efforts of the current Operating Systems Group and Microsoft Devices Group."

Terry Myerson

The full press release, which also reveals Microsoft's new leadership team, is below

Microsoft aligns engineering teams to strategy

REDMOND, Wash. — June 17, 2015 — In an email to employees Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. announced changes to its Senior Leadership Team to drive engineering alignment against the company's core ambitions: reinvent productivity and business processes, build the intelligent cloud platform, and create more personal computing.

"We are aligning our engineering efforts and capabilities to deliver on our strategy and, in particular, our three core ambitions," said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. "This change will enable us to deliver better products and services that our customers love at a more rapid pace."

Changes to the Senior Leadership Team include the following:

Executive Vice President Terry Myerson will lead a newly formed team, Windows and Devices Group (WDG), focused on enabling more personal computing experiences powered by the Windows ecosystem. This new team combines the engineering efforts of the current Operating Systems Group and Microsoft Devices Group.

Executive Vice President Scott Guthrie will continue to lead the Cloud and Enterprise (C+E) team focused on building the intelligent cloud platform that powers any application on any device. The C+E team will also focus on building high-value infrastructure and business services that are key to managing business processes, especially in the areas of data and analytics, security and management, and development tools. As a part of this announcement, the company will move the Dynamics development teams to the C+E team, enabling the company to accelerate ERP and CRM work and bring it into the mainstream C+E engineering and innovation efforts.

Executive Vice President Qi Lu will continue to lead the Applications and Services Group (ASG) focused on reinventing productivity services for digital work that span all devices and appeal to the people who use technology at work and in their personal lives.

As a result of the organizational moves, Stephen Elop, Kirill Tatarinov and Eric Rudder will leave Microsoft after a designated transition period. Unrelated to the engineering restructuring changes, Chief Insights Officer Mark Penn has decided to pursue another venture outside Microsoft and will be leaving the company in September.

Following these changes, Microsoft's Senior Leadership Team totals 12 executives:

  • Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer
  • Chris Capossela, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
  • Kurt DelBene, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Planning
  • Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President, Cloud and Enterprise
  • Amy Hood, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
  • Kathleen Hogan, Executive Vice President, Human Resources
  • Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President, Business Development
  • Qi Lu, Executive Vice President, Applications and Services Group
  • Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group
  • Harry Shum, Executive Vice President, Technology and Research
  • Brad Smith, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Legal and Corporate Affairs
  • Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer

Source: Microsoft

John Callaham