Microsoft in big reshuffle as Windows chief, Terry Myerson leaves

Seattle tech giant, Microsoft, announced Thursday that a major reorganization which will establish two main engineering teams was afoot.

This comes in the wake of Windows chief Terry Myerson, leaving the company after 21 solid years of service, where he oversaw the Windows and devices group as the executive Vice President.

In a detailed memo, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella, outlined the new changes which will see the current executive VP of the product group, Rajesh Jha, head the experiences and devices team, while Scott Guthrie, who is currently executive VP of the cloud and enterprise group, will now head the cloud and AI team.

Myerson and Microsoft depart on good terms

In a post on his LinkedIn profile, Myerson, who oversaw the company’s Exchange and Windows 10 products said his leaving the firm fills him with many emotions.

I’m mostly filled with gratitude and optimism – gratitude for the experiences I have had and optimism for the future ahead – both for Microsoft and myself.

On his part, CEO Nadella said that the company had been planning for Myerson’s transition to pursue his next chapter outside Microsoft, but lauded him for his role in shaping the reorganization.

Terry has been instrumental in helping me arrive at this new organizational structure, and I deeply appreciate his leadership and insight as we’ve worked through the opportunity that lies ahead. Over the past several years, Terry and the WDG team transformed Windows to create a secure, always up-to-date, modern OS. His strong contributions to Microsoft over 21 years from leading Exchange to leading Windows 10 leave a real legacy.

The reshuffle comes at a time when the tech leviathan is refreshing its strategy to align with the next phase of the tech world as it evolves, having missed the bus in mobile to leading giants, Google and Apple, so this is a significant moment for the company.

Currently, the big frontiers are AI and cloud services, which will be at the core of computing development, so the company is fighting to stay ahead of the pack, with strong contenders like Amazon and Google, among others pushing hard.

Other changes include the role of executive VP of Microsoft Azure, which will be filled by Jason Zander, and AI and research which will be headed by Harry Shum.