Microsoft chief product officer to depart; tech big pronounces roles reshuffle

Panos Panay will keep lengthy sufficient to assist his replacements transition into the position, Rajesh Jha, govt vice chairman of the experiences and gadgets group, introduced in an e mail to workers on Monday.

Panay, who had been with Microsoft since 2004, was central to the corporate’s {hardware} efforts in his position main the Floor laptop division and most not too long ago heading the Home windows unit. Pavan Davuluri is being tapped to supervise working programs, gadgets and chips associated to desktop purchasers, cloud and synthetic intelligence. Yusuf Mehdi will work with computer-maker and retail partnerships, Jha mentioned.

“Thank you, Panos, for your impact on our products, culture, company, and industry over the past two decades,” Chief Government Officer Satya Nadella mentioned in an announcement, including that the corporate will “remain steadfast and convicted in our strategy.”

Panay served as basic supervisor for Floor when the preliminary tablets, Microsoft’s first piece of laptop {hardware}, have been launched in 2012. Since then, he’s led an enlargement into laptops, desktops and equipment. The gadgets attracted comparisons to Apple, because of glitzy launch occasions and a give attention to element and high-quality design.

Extra not too long ago, Microsoft has scaled again the Floor operation, axing personnel and slicing slow-selling merchandise. The corporate’s HoloLens mixed-reality goggles challenge, overseen by Panay since 2022, has additionally struggled, thanks partially to a delayed US Military contract.

The corporate’s “commitment” to Floor and the mixed-reality enterprise “remains unchanged,” Jha wrote in his e mail.

Davuluri, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, is a vice chairman in Home windows and Machine engineering and has led silicon and programs integration. Mehdi has been at Microsoft for greater than 30 years and first got here to prominence as the pinnacle of selling campaigns for Web Explorer within the Nineteen Nineties. Extra not too long ago he has held roles at Xbox, Home windows and Bing.