More Microsoft Veterans Depart, Shift Roles Following Latest Reorganization

Satya Nadella, Microsoft, Code Conference

Asa Mathat

GENERAL

August 7, 2015, 12:24 PM PDT

More Microsoft veteran executives are either leaving the company or moving into new roles, sources said, as the fallout continues from the latest realignment of the company under CEO Satya Nadella.

Among those leaving is PJ Hough, who has been at the company 15 years, most recently as a VP in its developer division, sources said.

Two other longtime Windows unit members are leaving the team: David Treadwell, a corporate VP who has spent 26 years at Microsoft, is leaving Windows for a new role in the Cloud and Enterprise unit, while Ales Holacek is heading over to the Office team.

Perhaps the oddest turn was a change that was announced but ended up not happening. According to a source, Microsoft announced to the Windows team that it was replacing William Kennedy, the corporate VP of Windows development. It even announced Holacek as his replacement, only to say a short time later that Kennedy would be staying in place after all.

The combination of moves has left many longtimers in Windows unsettled, the source said.

A Microsoft representative declined to comment.

The latest changes follow the June exit of Windows devices head Stephen Elop, along with longtime technical leader Eric Rudder and former political operative Mark Penn.

The Windows unit has already undergone a tremendous amount of change, both in terms of personnel and in structure in the years since Terry Myerson took over as head of Windows, replacing Tami Reller and Julie Larson-Green.

Myerson is now also in charge of the Windows-based devices team formerly run by Elop in addition to heading operating system development work for phones, PCs and the Xbox.