Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella has a new plan for who will oversee the company’s public announcements, according to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider.
President Brad Smith will be in charge of the company’s communications department, previously overseen by Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto.
This will hand oversight of corporate communications to an executive who has become the public face of Microsoft’s positions on regulation, geopolitics, AI governance, and other issues shaping the company’s global expansion.
Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s current chief communications officer, recently announced plans to leave the company at the end of the year. Microsoft hasn’t named a replacement for Shaw but Nadella said Brent Colburn, vice president for global public affairs, will become interim communications leader.
“Few leaders embody Microsoft’s voice as authentically as Brad,” Nadella wrote in the memo. “He brings a deep understanding of our business, a strong connection to our stakeholders, and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, conviction, and trust.”
Smith has built a reputation as “the statesman of the technology industry”. That role is especially crucial for Microsoft as the company navigates challenges related to expanding its data centers and AI footprint.
Read the memo
Subject: Evolving our communications
Communications has never been more important to Microsoft. The company is changing, our industry is changing, and the world around us is changing. And in a media environment that is increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever, we need to continue to be grounded in our mission, earn trust each day, and find new ways to connect directly with all of our constituencies.
I first want to thank Frank for everything he has done for Microsoft. He has made tremendous contributions to the company and to our communications function over the last 17+ years. And he’s been a great source of counsel to our leadership team and to me personally, across the company’s biggest moments.
As Frank prepares to embark on his next chapter, Takeshi, Brad, and I have been discussing the evolution of comms at the company. I have asked Brad to lead the communications function going forward. Few leaders embody Microsoft’s voice as authentically as Brad. He brings a deep understanding of our business, a strong connection to our stakeholders, and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, conviction, and trust.
During this transition, Brent Colburn will continue reporting to Brad and will now act as our interim communications leader. The comms leadership team will report to Brent, and Frank will continue to advise Brad and Brent on the transition.
In many ways, the people closest to the work have the best opportunity to shape how Microsoft is understood. We need to give people across the company the tools and support to do it well. And I’m excited about the opportunity to help our engineers, sellers, partners, and others closest to our products and customers become an even bigger part of how we tell our story, all connected by a shared strategy and set of principles. All of you have a critical role to play in making that possible.
We have an exciting fall ahead, with a number of important moments and events coming up and great marketing behind them. It is a real opportunity to bring together our product story, our marketing, and our communications in new ways.
We will learn, we will experiment, and we will evolve. There is a fundamentally new way to think about communications, and this team will be central to building it.
Thank you for everything you do for Microsoft, and for the role you each play in telling our story.
Satya
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