PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston joins Microsoft’s board, ValueAct’s Morfit to leave in November

Microsoft announced yesterday the appointment of Hugh Johnston, vice chairman and chief financial officer of PepsiCo, to its board of directors and to the board’s audit committee. The 56 years-old exec previously worked as a director and audit committee chair for Twitter Inc. and AOL Inc, and will bring his valuable experience to Microsoft’s board.

“Hugh is an accomplished financial and business leader who brings a depth of experience from his successful career at PepsiCo where he has oversight of finance, IT, e-commerce and the company’s digital transformation,” said John W. Thompson, independent Microsoft board chairman. “He is a great addition to Microsoft’s board of directors, and we look forward to working with him.”

Johnson’s addition is effective immediately and will make the board reach 13 members. However, the Redmond Giant also announced yesterday the upcoming departure of ValueAct Capital President G.Mason Morfit, who chose not to seek re-election to the board. Morfit will leave the board at Microsoft’s annual shareholders meeting set for Nov. 29, 2017. “Mason has been a valuable adviser at an important time in Microsoft’s transformation, and we are grateful for his contributions,” Thompson said.