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Kevin Turner leaves software giant to take on CEO role at Citadel Securities.
Microsoft this week announced a series of management changes to plug the hole left by Kevin Turner, who has resigned as chief operating officer.
Turner is leaving the software giant after 11 years to become CEO of investment firm Citadel Securities, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella announced in an email to employees on Thursday.
"[Turner] built the sales force into the strategic asset it is today with incredible talent while at the same time more than doubling our revenue and driving customer satisfaction scores to the highest in company history," Nadella said, adding that he has learnt a lot from the departing executive over the past few years.
Rather than appoint an outright replacement for Turner, Nadella is effecting a number of management changes, altering the company structure and effectively splitting his role amongst five members of staff.
"With Kevin’s departure, I have made the decision to more deeply integrate the current SMSG [Sales Marketing Services Group] organisation into the rest of Microsoft and form one unified senior leadership team," Nadella said.
The CEO outlined the following changes: Judson Althoff will lead Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business; Jean-Philippe Courtois will head up its Global Sales, Marketing and Operations; Chris Capossela will lead its Worldwide Marketing and Consumer Business; Kurt DelBene will take on responsibility for IT and Operations, in addition to Corporate Strategy; and Amy Hood will lead the current SMSG finance team and Worldwide Licensing and Pricing (WWLP), in addition to the central finance team.
Turner will remain with the company until the end of this month in order to help with the transition, Nadella said.
In a separate statement, issued by Citadel Securities, Turner paid tribute to his former colleagues at Microsoft.
"I…want to express my sincere personal thanks to Satya Nadella for his leadership and mentorship, and to colleagues at Microsoft for their friendship, hard work and dedication," he said.
