In a unanimous vote today, Microsoft’s Board of Directors has elected CEO Satya Nadella as Chairman of the Board, replacing John Thompson (via GeekWire). Thompson will remain on the board as “lead independent director,” and Nadella will retain the CEO role while taking over as Chairman.
Nadella first joined Microsoft in 1992, and took over as CEO in February 2014, replacing Steve Ballmer. Since becoming CEO, he has focused Microsoft on the cloud, building out Azure into a multi billion dollar division, while cutting the company’s losses in a number of consumer focused areas, most notably Windows Phone. Last week, Nadella announced his continued firm support for Microsoft’s gaming efforts, saying that he was “all in” on Xbox and gaming.
Next week, Microsoft will formally unveil its work on Windows 11, a revamped and refreshed update of Windows 10 featuring UX improvements that were first slated for Windows 10X. The company continues to focus efforts on Azure and cloud based computing, and has grown into a nearly 2 trillion dollar company.
