Google Hires 5 Key Execs From AWS, Microsoft: Here’s Who

August 02, 2023, 02:30 PM EDT

Google recently hired a former Microsoft President and AWS’ machine learning general manager. Here’s five big executives Google nabbed with top notch experience at Amazon and Microsoft.

James Phillips

Google Title: Vice President, Google Cloud

Previous Title: President, Microsoft

James Phillips spent 10 years at Microsoft, including in a president role from 2020 to 2022, before joining Google Cloud in July. His teams built and operated a large portion of the Microsoft Cloud including the Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Azure AI Platform, Azure Data Platform, Azure IoT Platform, and the Microsoft Cloud for product families.

“I’m grateful for the warm welcome from Thomas Kurian and all my new colleagues. And with so many former colleagues who’ve joined before me, it feels a bit like a homecoming,” said Phillips on LinkedIn last week. “The depth of talent here is staggering—across every discipline; and the energy and momentum is palpable and contagious.”

From 2012 to 2022 Phillips’ Microsoft organization grew from 300 to over 15,000 team members spanning the globe and delivering over $20 billion in annual revenue. Phillips was the co-founder and former CEO of Couchbase before joining Microsoft.

Philips is now in a senior executive position as vice president of Google Cloud. “For the foreseeable future, transformation will be all about information and AI,” he said. “And at its very core that’s what Google is all about.”

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Mark Haranas

Mark Haranas is an assistant news editor and longtime journalist now covering cloud, multicloud, software, SaaS and channel partners at CRN. He speaks with world-renown CEOs and IT experts as well as covering breaking news and live events while also managing several CRN reporters. He can be reached at mharanas@thechannelcompany.com.