News
Former Office Chief DelBene Rejoins Microsoft as Executive Vice President
- By Gladys Rama
- April 13, 2015
Nearly two years after leaving Microsoft, former Office group president Kurt DelBene is rejoining the company as the executive vice president of Corporate Strategy and Planning.
DelBene's new role will put him in charge of "cross-engineering and cross-business strategy and execution initiatives," Microsoft said in an announcement on Monday. He will report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
DelBene retired from Microsoft in July 2013 after 21 years with the company. He had been president of the Office group since 2010, and held several development and engineering roles within the group before that.
His exit from Microsoft was one of several executive departures that stemmed from the massive "One Microsoft" corporate reorganization spearheaded by then-CEO Steve Ballmer. As part of that reorg, the Office group was folded into the new Applications and Services Engineering group led by former Microsoft Online Services chief Qi Lu, leaving DelBene out of the mix.
Months after his departure from Microsoft, he was hired by the Obama administration to manage the HealthCare.gov Web site, which launched in late 2013 with numerous problems. Most recently, DelBene served as a venture partner at Madrona Venture Group, which invests in technology startups.
In a statement, Nadella said that DelBene's recent experiences working with startups and on HealthCare.gov "give him a unique perspective" as he returns to Microsoft as an executive vice president.
"Kurt brings extensive background in business strategy, engineering and customer solutions, as well as a proven track record of delivering strong results in complex environments," Nadella said.