A couple of Microsoft exec moves to report late Wednesday: first, Panos Panay, the former head of Surface and now running all of Windows & Devices, has been promoted to the company’s Senior Leadership Team as an Executive Vice President, according to a report from Bloomberg News, who was provided an internal email announcing the change. The move comes as Microsoft gets set to push Windows 11 this holiday season, a revamped and rebranded take on Windows 10.
In addition, Amazon Web Services veteran Charlie Bell is joining Microsoft as a Corporate Vice President. It’s unclear at the moment what role Bell will assume at Microsoft, he’s currently listed in Microsoft’s corporate directory under HR head Kathleen Hogan, according to CNBC, but that could be only temporary.
Amazon has some recent history in the overbearing use of non-compete clauses to contest moves from other ex-Amazon execs to other companies, most notably when (at one time head of Microsoft’s Surface Marketing and a 20 year MS veteran) Brian Hall moved from Amazon eventually to Google. However, according to Corey Quinn, that may not be the case this time:
Yes, “@awscloud and @microsoft will iron out the terms of a non-compete.”
Look, AWS has a lot of very impressive people who work there, but not a single one of you is brave enough to attempt to sue *Charlie Bell*. pic.twitter.com/UQ1ANnQu26
— Corey Quinn (@QuinnyPig) August 26, 2021
It’s good news and well deserved that Panos Panay, and Windows for that matter, has a seat at the Senior Leadership table, even as Microsoft continues to push against Amazon with Azure. Does a promotion for Panos mean good things for the future of Windows? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
