More Microsoft Board Changes: 2 Longtime Directors To Depart
Microsoft earlier this week said two more longtime board members are stepping down and the company has already named their replacements, which will take effect Oct. 1.
Among them are David Marquardt, a venture capitalist who was an early investor in Microsoft, and Dina Dublon, the onetime chief financial officer of J.P. Morgan. Dublon was on Microsoft's audit committee and chaired its compensation, The Wall Street journal noted. The paper also raised an interesting question: Would losing the two board members now and others over the past two years result in a gap in "institutional knowledge?" Marquardt, with his Silicon Valley ties, played a key role in helping Microsoft "get off the ground and is a direct link to the company's earliest days."
The two new board members are Teri List-Stoll, chief financial officer of Kraft Foods and Visa CEO Charles Scharf, who once ran J.P. Morgan Chase's retail banking and private investment operations. Of course the moves come just weeks after former CEO Steve Ballmer stepped down.
Nadella will be reporting to a board with six new members out of a total of 10 since 2012. Indeed that should please Wall Street investors who were pining for new blood during last year's search for Ballmer's replacement and didn't want to see an insider get the job.
But the real question to be determined is will these new voices teamed with Nadella strike a balance that is needed for Microsoft to thrive in the fiercest competitive market it has faced to date?
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 09/18/2014 at 3:32 PM