Here's Microsoft's leadership shakeup strategy and new unit structure for fiscal year 2022

The Visitor’s Center at Microsoft Headquarters campus is pictured July 17, 2014 in Redmond, Washington.
The Visitor’s Center at Microsoft Headquarters campus is pictured July 17, 2014 in Redmond, Washington. (Image credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images for Microsoft)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft's new unit is getting its fiscal year mandates.
  • Kate Johnson's replacement has been announced.
  • Many Microsoft employees are staying exactly where they are.

It's the first day of Microsoft's fiscal year 2022, and as such, big news is coming out, hot on the heels of the previous big news that detailed how two of Microsoft's presidents are vacating their positions later this year.

As reported by ZDNet, Microsoft has internally unveiled its commercial, sales, and marketing unit's leadership team and structure, as announced by Executive Vice President Judson Althoff. The internal release is to clarify the unit's mission now that Althoff is running the show.

It's also being announced by Microsoft that Deb Cupp will be taking over Kate Johnson's position as the President of Microsoft U.S. If you take a look at Cupp's LinkedIn profile (linked above), you'll see she's been with Microsoft for almost four years.

Other internal developments are non-developments in the sense that a lot of executives and vice presidents are staying exactly where they are.

Corporate-level changes may not appear relevant to consumer interest at first, but they may have big implications for Microsoft's end-user dealings down the line. After all, one of the leaving presidents, Toni Townes-Whitley, helped make Microsoft's JEDI deal with the Pentagon possible, and one can imagine how many lives are touched by the Pentagon's operations. So a new president taking over (in this instance, Deb Cupp) is a major development.

Depending on the actions of these presidents and vice presidents, anything Microsoft-related could be affected, including Windows 11. So, while it may not be worth memorizing these peoples' names, the activities surrounding said people are most certainly worth keeping abreast of.

However, if you've read this far and are no longer interested in reading about executives and their actions' hypothetical implications for you, check out our coverage of purely consumer-facing content, such as the Xbox Series X and the best Xbox Game Pass games.

Robert Carnevale

Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He's a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author of Cold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.