Who is Judson Althoff? Satya Nadella appoints new CEO to run Microsoft’s commercial business

Microsoft, on Wednesday, appointed its Chief Commerical Officer (CCO), Judson Althoff as CEO of the commercial business, freeing up the tech giant's chief Satya Nadella to focus more on the technical side of the business.

According to a report by Reuters, Althoff will lead what Microsoft CEO Nadella called a new organiwation, which will combine sales, marketing and operations.

Who is Judson Althoff?

Judson Althoff – who previously served as executive vice president and chief commercial officer, joined Microsoft in 2013. Before that, he held senior sales roles at Oracle Corp. and EMC.

The newly appointed CEO of Microsoft's commercial business – Althoff – completed his graduation from Illinois Institue of Technology, with a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, as per his LinkedIn profile.

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Althoff also serves on Ecolab’s board as an independent director and a member of the Audit and Finance Committee.

As part of his expanded role, Judson Althoff will also head a newly formed commercial leadership team that includes leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations and finance, mentioned a report by Reuters.

What Satya Nadella said

In a blog post on Wednesday, Satya Nadella said the reorganisation would help him and other engineering leaders to be “laser focused on our highest ambition technical work - across our datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation.”

"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," Nadella said.

Also Read: Microsoft announces former GE CFO Carolina Dybeck Happe as new COO

Microsoft stated that under Judson Althoff's leadership, the tech giant has posted uninterrupted commercial cloud revenue growth, powered by close partnerships with customers that are driving business outcomes through AI Transformation.

'Microsoft Marketplace'

In 2021, Microsoft brought together its global sales and marketing organisation and worldwide commercial business into a single unified organisation, helmed by Althoff.

Last month, the tech giant said it is combining the separate marketplaces for its AI tools aimed at businesses into one offering called "Microsoft Marketplace."

It previously offered tools for software developers, who use its Azure cloud computing service, on one marketplace, and applications and so-called "agents" — AI tools designed to carry out tasks on behalf of human users within applications — on another.