Microsoft Promotes Judson Althoff To New CEO Role

‘Together we will continue to strengthen our mission in the era of AI: to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,’ says Microsoft’s new commercial CEO, Judson Althoff.

Microsoft has promoted Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff, who also oversees Microsoft’s partner organization, to the role of CEO over its commercial business.

Althoff confirmed the promotion in a LinkedIn post Wednesday, saying he is “excited and humbled” to take on his new responsibilities.

“Together we will continue to strengthen our mission in the era of AI: to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,” Althoff said.

Microsoft Promotes Althoff

CRN has reached out to Microsoft and Althoff for comment.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in an online post Wednesday that Althoff’s leadership over the past nine years over the global sales organization and architecture of the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions fueled the decision to promote the former EVP and CCO.

Nadella called MCAPS the “number one seed” as well as “our company’s most important growth engine.”

As EVP and CCO, Althoff also oversaw Microsoft’s Small, Medium Enterprises and Channel organization that was revamped earlier this year. SME&C President Ralph Haupter reported to Althoff and Nicole Dezen, Microsoft chief partner officer and corporate vice president over the Global Partner Solutions (GPS) organization, reported to Haupter.

CRN has reached out to Microsoft about any additional changes to organizations that work directly with the vendor’s ecosystem of more than 500,000 partners worldwide.

As part of Althoff’s promotion to the CEO role, Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto will now report to Althoff while also continuing to report to Nadella “on all-up business models, planning, consumer marketing, and corporate brand and communications,” according to Nadella’s post.

Althoff will lead a new Microsoft commercial leadership team with leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations and finance. Microsoft’s operations organization will now report to Althoff, although EVP and Chief Operations Officer Carolina Dybeck Happe continues to report to Nadella while closely partnering with Althoff.

“By bringing operations into the commercial business, we can tighten the feedback loop between what customers need and how we deliver and support them,” Nadella said. Combining the other divisions under Althoff will “drive our product strategy and governance, GTM readiness, and sales motions with shared accountability for the rigor and executional excellence our customers expect.”

Nadella plans to spend more time focused with engineering leaders on data center buildout, systems architecture, AI science and product innovation.

Althoff has been with Microsoft for about 13 years, according to his LinkedIn account. As EVP and CCO, he was “responsible for the sales strategy, execution, and revenue growth of the company’s commercial business, including enterprise, public sector, small and medium businesses, services, developer and partner communities in more than 120 regional and national subsidiaries globally.”