News

12 Microsoft Execs Who Made the March to Juniper Networks

Since former Microsoft senior executive Kevin Johnson became CEO in 2008, 12 execs from Redmond have followed him to VP roles at the networking company.

• By Scott Bekker
• October 24, 2011

When Bob Muglia started his new job this month, he was following a well-worn path from Microsoft corporate headquarters to senior positions at Juniper Networks Inc.

Muglia, who held some of the top executive positions inside Microsoft during his 23 years there, is one of at least 12 executives to follow former Microsoft President for Platforms and Services Kevin Johnson to a vice presidency at Juniper Networks since Johnson became CEO of the networking company in September 2008.

Growth in revenues was clearly what Juniper Networks had in mind in bringing Johnson on in 2008. In a statement at the time, Pradeep Sindhu, founder and chief technology officer of Juniper Networks, listed among the reasons for hiring Johnson: "Kevin's experience at scale, his background in engineering and his proven ability to lead companies through times of rapid growth." Juniper Networks executives at the time noted that Johnson was running a 14,000-employee, $20 billion-a-year business inside Microsoft in the Platforms and Services Division.

That Johnson would bring over some senior Microsoft people in Juniper's ongoing expansion to a current total of about 9,000 employees is no surprise. He got to know the strengths, flaws and personalities of a lot of Microsoft executives in his 16 years in Redmond.

Here are 12 Microsoft executives who joined Juniper after Johnson, in chronological order, according to the executives's bios on LinkedIn:

Peter Boit
Joined in February 2009 as senior vice president, Enterprise. He had been VP, Enterprise Partners at Microsoft from 1991 to September 2008.

Joe Austin
Joined in February 2009 as VP, Customer Experience. He was with Microsoft from 1995 to 2009.

Gerri Elliott
Joined in June 2009 as executive vice president, Strategic Alliances. She became EVP and chief sales officer in July. She spent seven years at Microsoft through December 2008, when she was corporate vice president, Worldwide Public Sector.

Brian Roach
Joined in July 2009 as VP, Federal. He'd spent the previous 10 years at Microsoft, where he had been general manager, U.S. Department of Defense Sales.

Andy Zupsic
Joined in September 2009 as SVP, Americas Enterprise Sales. He held various management roles in Singapore and Latin America during a decade with Microsoft.

Hoke Horne
Joined in October 2009 as VP, Pricing. He had been with Microsoft since 2002, most recently as CFO, Microsoft Financing.

Mitch Lewis
Joined in June 2010 as VP, Strategic Alliances-Ericsson. A 10-year Ericsson executive, Lewis worked at Microsoft for a year as GM, Worldwide Marketing for the Communications Sector, prior to jumping to Juniper.

Mike Porter
Joined in July 2010 as VP, Central Area. He'd been a regional GM at Microsoft for five years to that point and had been with Microsoft since 1996.

Emilio Umeoka
Joined in December 2010 as SVP, WW Partners. Left Microsoft after 10 years from the post of President of Asia Pacific.

Brad Brooks
Joined in February as VP, Worldwide Enterprise Sector Solutions and Marketing. He worked at Microsoft from 2002 to January 2011, most recently as CVP, Windows Consumer Business.

Ben Jackson
Joined Juniper in July as VP, Technical Documentation & Information Experience. He had spent the previous five years at Microsoft.

Bob Muglia
Joined Juniper Oct. 3, 2011, as EVP, Software Solutions Division.