In-Depth
11 Former Microsoft Executives: Where Are They Now?
- By Scott Bekker
- October 01, 2010
Stephen Elop blasted a hole in the Microsoft org chart last month by stepping into the CEO job at Nokia. That set RCP to wondering where a bunch of high-profile executives landed after leaving Microsoft in the past few years. Last we heard:
1) Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia
|
He started his short but high-profile stint in Redmond in January 2008 as president of the Microsoft Business Division, which includes Office and Dynamics. |
|
 |
2) Jeff Raikes, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
|
Elop left the COO job at Juniper Networks Inc. to replace Raikes, one of the longest-serving senior executives at Microsoft. Hired by Steve Ballmer in 1981 after 15 months at Apple Inc., Raikes held executive positions across Microsoft. |
|
 |
3) Maria Martinez, EVP, Salesforce.com Inc.
|
Martinez had run Microsoft Services, a role that involves frequent contact and occasional conflict with Microsoft enterprise partners. Joining Redmond's toughest rival in the online CRM space in May, Martinez became executive vice president of "Customers for Life." |
|
 |
4) Rick Devenuti, SVP & COO, Content Management and Archiving Division, EMC
|
Devenuti held the Microsoft Services job before Martinez. He left Microsoft in February 2007 after 19 years. |
|
 |
5) Bill Veghte, EVP, Hewlett-Packard Co.
|
Another very senior Microsoft exec to leave after about two decades, Veghte joined HP in May as executive vice president of the Software & Solutions organization in the Enterprise Business at HP. |
|
 |
6) Martin Taylor, Vista Equity Partners
|
A star at Microsoft, where he worked directly with Steve Ballmer for a time, Taylor's Microsoft career ended abruptly and somewhat mysteriously when he was "held up in a Dallas airport," according to a Microsoft spokesperson at the time. He joined Vista Equity Partners in 2006. |
|
 |
7) Robert Deshaies, EVP, Sage Business Solutions Pty Ltd.
|
Former vice president of the Microsoft U.S. Partner Group, Deshaies found himself in the title-less, never-never land of focusing on an unspecified "key strategic initiative" within Microsoft in 2009. In January 2010, he landed at Sage, and has been helping the business applications firm siphon Great Plains talent to Sage, among other duties. |
|
 |
8) Kevin Johnson, CEO, Juniper Networks
|
Johnson ran the Microsoft Platforms & Services Division and joined Juniper in July 2008. |
|
 |
9) Peter Boit, SVP, Juniper Networks
|
A former vice president, enterprise partners, at Microsoft, he took a similar role at Juniper Networks, as senior vice president in the enterprise segment. |
|
 |
10) Mark Lucovsky, VMware Inc., and Kai-Fu Lee, Innovation Works
|
These two are grouped together because they were both high-profile departures to Google Inc. (Lucovsky by way of the alleged Ballmer chair-throwing incident, Lee by way of a lawsuit), who aren't there anymore. |
|
 |
|
 |
11) Birger Steen, president, Parallels Holdings Ltd.
|
Steen was the vice president of Small and Medium Business and Distribution at Microsoft. He moved to cloud infrastructure-focused Parallels last month. |
|
 |