Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella has a new plan for who volition oversee the company's community announcements, according to an inner memo viewed by Business Insider.
President Brad Smith volition be in accusation of the company's communications department, earlier overseen by Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto.
This volition hand oversight of company communications to an administrator who has rotate into the community visage of Microsoft's positions on regulation, geopolitics, AI governance, and another issues shaping the company's earth expansion.
Frank Shaw, Microsoft's current chief communications officer, lately announced plans to depart the business at the end of the year. Microsoft hasn't named a replacement for Shaw but Nadella stated Brent Colburn, vice chairman for earth community affairs, volition rotate into interim communications leader.
"Few leaders embody Microsoft's sound as authentically as Brad," Nadella wrote in the memo. "He brings a profound understanding of our business, a powerful association to our stakeholders, and a rare capability to communicate complex ideas alongside clarity, conviction, and trust."
Smith has built a position as "the politician of the innovation industry". That function is particularly crucial for Microsoft as the business navigates challenges connected to expanding its data centers and AI footprint.
Read the memo
Subject: Evolving our communications Communications has never been additional crucial to Microsoft. The business is changing, our industry is changing, and the earth about us is changing. And in a media surroundings that is increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever, we need to continue to be restricted in our mission, acquire rely all day, and discover new ways to nexus immediately alongside all of our constituencies.
I archetypal desire to appreciate Frank for everything he has done for Microsoft. He has made enormous contributions to the business and to our communications function complete the final 17+ years. And he's been a awesome origin of advise to our guidance squad and to me personally, throughout the company's biggest moments.
As Frank prepares to embark on his next chapter, Takeshi, Brad, and I have been discussing the development of comms at the company. I have asked Brad to guide the communications function going forward. Few leaders embody Microsoft's sound as authentically as Brad. He brings a profound understanding of our business, a powerful association to our stakeholders, and a rare capability to communicate complex ideas alongside clarity, conviction, and trust.
During this transition, Brent Colburn volition continue reporting to Brad and volition now act as our interim communications leader. The comms guidance squad volition study to Brent, and Frank volition continue to advise Brad and Brent on the transition.
In many ways, the group closest to the activity have the finest chance to form how Microsoft is understood. We need to provision group throughout the business the tools and assistance to do it well. And I'm enthusiastic concerning the chance to assistance our engineers, sellers, partners, and others closest to our products and customers rotate into an equal bigger part of how we inform our story, all connected by a shared scheme and set of principles. All of you have a crucial function to perform in making that possible.
We have an breathtaking autumn ahead, alongside a figure of crucial moments and events coming up and awesome promotion rearward them. It is a genuine chance to bring together our merchandise story, our marketing, and our communications in new ways.
We volition learn, we volition experiment, and we volition evolve. There is a basically new way to think concerning communications, and this squad volition be chief to construction it.
Thank you for everything you do for Microsoft, and for the function you all perform in telling our story.
Satya
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