News
Wireless Industry Veteran Joins Microsoft's Board of Directors
- By Gladys Rama
- July 30, 2014
Microsoft on Wednesday announced it has added one more seat to its board of directors, appointing longtime wireless industry executive John W. Stanton.
Including Stanton, Microsoft currently has 11 people on its board, among them Chairman John Thompson, CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and the recently added Mason Morfit, president of ValueAct Capital. Stephen J. Luczo, president and CEO of Seagate, left the board earlier this year after a two-year stint.
Stanton's pedigree is heavily focused on the wireless industry. His appointment underscores the "mobile" portion of Microsoft's "mobile-first, cloud-first" mantra, minted by Nadella soon after being named CEO this year.
Stanton has over three decades of experience holding CEO, chairman or director positions in major wireless companies, including McCaw Cellular, Western Wireless Corp., Clearwire Corp. and T-Mobile USA, according to his executive bio.
Currently, he is chairman of Trilogy Equity Partners and Trilogy International Partners (the former is a private equity fund that invests in wireless startups, and the latter is a wireless operator based in New Zealand and Central and South America).
"John's insights into mobility around the globe and his expertise in working with organizations as CEO and as a board member will be invaluable as we transform Microsoft for growth and leadership in the mobile-first, cloud-first world," Nadella said in a prepared statement.
Stanton joins Microsoft at a transitional point for the company. Nadella recently announced a shift in Microsoft's core vision to become a productivity- and platform-focused copmany that provides "digital work and life experiences" for users. The company also recently announced the impending layoff of 18,000 employees, most of them related to the acquisition of Nokia's mobile device business.