News
Microsoft Hires Its First COO in Eight Years
Carolina Dybeck Happe, most recently the senior vice president and chief financial officer at General Electric, has been appointed Microsoft's chief operating officer (COO).
This is Microsoft's first COO since Kevin Turner left the role -- and the company -- in 2016.
CEO Satya Nadella on Thursday announced the appointment of Carolina Dybeck Happe, who will also become an executive vice president and join Microsoft's senior leadership team .
Though Microsoft has had COOs before, Nadella described Dybeck Happe's position as "newly created." She'll be in charge of three Microsoft business units: Commerce + Ecosystems (which manages the technology behind Microsoft's e-commerce transactions, as well as online partners sales), Microsoft Digital (which oversees Microsoft's internal digital transformation efforts) and Microsoft Business Operations (which handles a wide swath of Microsoft's internal functions, including license enforcement, contract processing and collections).
"These teams are doing mission-critical work for us with high ambition plans on how to empower our partners, customers, and employees with world class technology and experiences," Nadella said in the announcement.
Nadella positioned Dybeck Happe's hiring as integral to Microsoft's overall AI plans. The company has latterly styled itself as an AI-first company, investing heavily in its various Copilot technologies and the infrastructure to support their growth.
"Carolina will partner with the [senior leadership team] to help us drive continuous business process improvement across all our organizations and accelerate our company-wide Al transformation," Nadella said.
At her previous role, Dybeck Happe was widely credited for helping steer GE from a near-bankrupt conglomerate into a successful portfolio of three publicly traded companies focused on healthcare, aerospace and energy. As established tech players like Microsoft focus on becoming more agile and adaptable amid the AI boom, Nadella may be looking for fresh perspectives to sharpen Microsoft's strategic roadmap.
"To continue thriving as a company, we need to raise the bar on our operational excellence," he said, "continually improving security, quality, and delivery to our customers, as well as the rigor with which we operate the business."