Microsoft is losing yet another key member of its leadership with Kurt DelBene set to leave the company at the end of the fiscal year. The news was announced to employees in a letter from CEO Satya Nadella, which was first reported on by ZDNet"s Mary Jo Foley.
Kurt DelBene is currently serving as Executive Vice President and head of the Corporate Strategy and Core Services Engineering division at the company, where he"s been since 2015. DelBene had already worked at Microsoft from 1992 through 2013, working on the Office division and eventually leading it. He left the company to help U.S. President Barack Obama with the Healthcare.gov website, then had a short tenure at Madrona Venture Group before returning to Microsoft. DelBene has been working on Microsoft"s COVID-19 response, which he will continue to do through the end of his stay at Microsoft, in June. He"s also a member of Microsoft"s Senior Leadership Team.
DelBene"s role isn"t being replaced in a traditional sense. His role will be divided between other divisions, with some parts falling under the Cloud and AI division led by Scott Guthrie. Others will be part of the Business Development organization, and finally, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood will be responsible for the last part of the role.
This is the third major departure from Microsoft to be announced in 2021, although it"s the first by a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Brad Anderson, Corporate Vice President (CVP) for Commercial Management Experiences announced a couple of weeks ago that he"d be leaving to join Qualtrics. Just a few days later, Julia White also announced her departure from her role as CVP of Product marketing for Azure, Development Tools, and Servers, transitioning to a new role at SAP.