Satya Nadella is skipping Ignite 2025 — Judson Althoff will lead the keynote instead

Microsoft has confirmed that CEO Satya Nadella will not speak at this year's Ignite 2025 conference. Instead, newly appointed CEO of commercial, Judson Althoff, will take center stage and lead the main keynote in November.

"Judson Althoff, now CEO of our commercial business, will lead the Microsoft Ignite keynote at Chase Arena in San Francisco," a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Windows Central. "Judson will be joined by several other leaders, including, Scott Guthrie, Ryan Roslansky, Asha Sharma, Charles Lamanna, Arun Ulag and more."

This will be the first Microsoft Ignite conference where Satya Nadella hasn't headlined the day 1 keynote. Nadella recently announced that he was handing over much of his day-to-day commercial responsibilities to Althoff, allowing him to focus more on the company's "highest ambition technical work."

This change in role is likely why he's no longer keynoting at Ignite, as he was previously listed as a speaker on the Ignite website until recently. With Satya's efforts now focused elsewhere, it seems Althoff will take the lead at this year's Ignite.

Microsoft Ignite has historically been all about IT professionals and commercial customers, and this year seems to be no different. AI is the current hot topic, and we anticipate much of what Microsoft will talk about will be related to how AI is impacting and enhancing commercial customers and IT professionals.

This year's Ignite is happening on November 18-21, and is taking place in San Francisco, with over 17,000 expected to attend in person and online. The keynotes will be streamed live for those who can't attend in person, and many of the sessions will also be available to watch online after the fact.

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