REDMOND, Wash., June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced that Allison Watson, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Partner Group, and Jon Roskill, corporate vice president of the Business & Marketing Organization in the U.S., will take on new roles within the company.
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"Microsoft is focused on building and maintaining a strong and dynamic management team," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer for Microsoft. "A key part of that focus is being deliberate about how we move talent across the company and making sure we offer a diverse set of experiences for our executives. Both Allison and Jon have a long history working in multiple divisions throughout Microsoft, and I'm excited that they have both agreed to tackle and take on new challenges in their new roles."
Effective July 1, Roskill will assume the role of corporate vice president of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group, where he will focus on helping the partner community capitalize on new areas of growth, such as unified communications, virtualization and cloud computing. In his previous role leading the U.S. Business & Marketing Organization, Roskill led cross-company marketing campaigns for Microsoft's commercial products such as Windows and Microsoft Office, and played a major role in bringing the company's cloud computing efforts to market over the past year. Roskill will report to Vahe Torossian, corporate vice president of the Worldwide Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners (SMS&P) Group. Torossian is an 18-year Microsoft veteran who recently joined SMS&P from his previous role overseeing Microsoft's sales, marketing and operations in Central and Eastern Europe.
"Our customers are relying more and more on our partners," Turner said. "Jon deeply understands the critical factors a customer goes through in making IT buying decisions. He will leverage his depth of knowledge in his new role, and I'm confident he will ensure that our partners continue to win and grow in the marketplace."
Watson will assume the role of corporate vice president of the Business & Marketing Organization in the U.S. and will report to Robert Youngjohns, senior vice president of North America Sales & Marketing. In her new role, Watson will focus on U.S. marketing and strategic business development, including work to ensure that customers take advantage of Microsoft's latest product releases and have a clear view into the company's cloud computing offerings. Watson has led the Microsoft Partner Group since 2002, establishing world-class leadership for Microsoft and aligning the company's partner strategy with the business needs of its partners.
"Over the past eight years, Allison has been instrumental in building the Microsoft ecosystem to the global strength and value that it has today. Partners commend her for her leadership," Turner said. "She has built an impressive set of programs and infrastructure to help our partners unlock greater business value with our collective customers, and I know she will bring her worldwide best practices from the partner ecosystem to drive equally impressive results in our largest market, the U.S. subsidiary."
Roskill and Watson will address partners at the company's annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, taking place July 11–15 in Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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