In a major leadership restructuring, Microsoft has promoted Judson Althoff, formerly Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, to the newly created role of Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft’s Commercial Business. The move, announced by CEO Satya Nadella in an internal memo to employees, reflects Microsoft’s strategic pivot to accelerate growth and innovation in the era of artificial intelligence.
Althoff, a 12-year veteran at Microsoft, has spent the past nine years leading the company’s global sales organization and was instrumental in building Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS), a division Nadella described as the company’s “most important growth engine.” In his new role, Althoff will oversee product strategy, sales, services, support, marketing, operations, and revenue growth across Microsoft’s commercial business, which spans more than 120 subsidiaries worldwide.
A Strategic Shift in Leadership
The promotion is part of a broader reorganization designed to streamline Microsoft’s commercial operations and better align them with the company’s AI ambitions. Nadella emphasized that the change will allow him and Microsoft’s engineering leaders to focus more intensively on technical innovation, including datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product development.
Nadella wrote:
This isn’t just evolution, it’s reinvention — for each of us professionally and for Microsoft. Our success depends on enabling commercial and public sector customers and partners to combine their human capital with new AI capabilities to change the frontier of how they operate.
Consolidating Commercial Functions
As part of the restructuring, Microsoft’s marketing and operations teams will now report directly to Althoff. This includes Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto, who will report to Althoff while continuing to report to Nadella on broader business strategy and brand communications. The goal is to tighten the feedback loop between customer needs and Microsoft’s delivery and support mechanisms.
Judson Althoff will also lead a newly formed commercial leadership team, bringing together senior leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations, and finance. This integrated structure is designed to enhance go-to-market readiness, product governance, and executional excellence across Microsoft’s commercial offerings.
Empowering AI Transformation
Microsoft’s commercial business, which includes Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics, LinkedIn, and related services, accounts for more than 75% of the company’s revenue, generating approximately $220 billion in fiscal 2025. Althoff’s expanded role places him at the helm of Microsoft’s primary revenue engine, positioning him as a key figure in driving the company’s AI transformation strategy.
This move also reflects a broader trend within Microsoft to assign CEO titles to leaders of major business units. Other examples include Phil Spencer (Microsoft Gaming), Mustafa Suleyman (Microsoft AI), and Ryan Roslansky (LinkedIn). While Althoff’s new role may resemble that of a deputy CEO, Nadella’s continued leadership and focus on technical innovation signal no intention to step down.
Here’s Nadella’s memo in full:
We are in the midst of a tectonic AI platform shift, one that requires us to both manage and grow our at-scale commercial business today, while building the new frontier and executing flawlessly across both.
History shows that general purpose technologies like AI drive step changes in productivity and GDP growth, and we have a unique opportunity to help our customers and the world realize this promise.
Our success depends on enabling commercial and public sector customers and partners to combine their human capital with new AI capabilities to change the frontier of how they operate. To accelerate this, we will increasingly need to bring together sales, marketing, operations, and engineering to drive growth and strengthen our position as the partner of choice for AI transformation.
With this context, I have asked Judson Althoff to take on an expanded role as CEO of our commercial business. Over the past nine years, Judson has led our global sales organization and was the architect behind designing and building Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS) into what it is today: the “number one seed” in the industry and our company’s most important growth engine.
Takeshi Numoto and his marketing team will join this new organization, with Takeshi reporting directly to Judson as CMO, while also continuing to report directly to me on all-up business models, planning, consumer marketing, and corporate brand and communications.
Our operations organization will also move to report to Judson. By bringing operations into the commercial business, we can tighten the feedback loop between what customers need and how we deliver and support them. Carolina Dybeck Happe will continue to report to me, as she works on our overall company transformation and continues to closely partner with Judson.
Additionally, Judson will lead a new commercial leadership team that brings together leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations, and finance to drive our product strategy and governance, GTM readiness, and sales motions with shared accountability for the rigor and executional excellence our customers expect.
This will also allow our engineering leaders and me to be laser focused on our highest ambition technical work—across our datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation—to lead with intensity and pace in this generational platform shift. Each one of us needs to be at our very best in terms of rapidly learning new skills, adopting new ways to work, and staying close to the metal to drive innovation across the entire stack!!
This isn’t just evolution, it’s reinvention, for each of us professionally and for Microsoft.
Satya
