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Capossela Gets Top Microsoft Marketing Position
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| Chris Capossela, senior VP, Microsoft Consumer Channels and Central Marketing Group. |
Chris Capossela now serves as senior vice president for the Consumer Channels and Central Marketing Group, Microsoft announced today.
His appointment follows an executive change, as Capossela will be taking over responsibilities carried out by Mich Mathews, senior vice president of Microsoft's Central Marketing Group, who announced her retirement last week at Microsoft's Imagine 2011 marketing event. Mathews is a 17-year marketing veteran at Microsoft and one of the company's few female senior executives. She had maintained the company's global branding over those years, but plans to leave Microsoft at the end of this summer.
Another top female marketing executive, Carolyn Everson, left Microsoft in February for Facebook after serving just six months as head of Microsoft's global ad sales. She had overseen Microsoft's Bing and Windows Live concerns.
Capossela also has deep roots at Microsoft. He's a 19-year veteran who previously served as a senior vice president overseeing marketing at the Microsoft Office Division. He managed pricing and ad campaigns for Microsoft Office, Duet, Exchange, Lync, Office 365, SharePoint, Project and Visio. He's also credited in his Microsoft bio as having been "Bill Gates' speech assistant" at one point in his career.
The products that Capossela will oversee in his new role include Office, Windows Phone and Xbox, in addition to global branding. He will collaborate with Microsoft's retail, original equipment manufacturer and mobile operator partners, among others.
A new organizational change is associated with Capossela's appointment. Microsoft has formed a new group called the "Consumer Channels Group" that's part of Capossela's purview. That group coordinates with Microsoft's distribution, mobile operator and retail teams, according to Microsoft's announcement.
Capossela reports to Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer. Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for marketing at the Microsoft Office Division, will be taking over Capossela's position, according to a letter from Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Office Division.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.