Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, on the SaaS Monster stage during the inaugural day of the Web Summit 2019 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.
Harry Murphy | Sports file Getty Images
Microsoft said Tuesday that its board approved the appointment of its president, Brad Smith, to the position of vice president. The move comes months after Satya Nadella took over as chairman after joining the board when she replaced Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014.
The quote follows a quarter-century of contributions to the software and hardware manufacturer, including addressing the antitrust concerns of regulators.
“This reflects the unique leadership role Brad plays for the company, our board of directors and myself, with governments and other external stakeholders around the world,” Nadella said in a statement.
Smith, 62, is Microsoft’s lead attorney and regularly represents the software company in policy debates. He is among Microsoft’s top executives, leading more than 1,500 people in legal and corporate affairs in 54 countries, according to a biography on Microsoft’s website.
Microsoft acknowledged its work on sustainability, responsible artificial intelligence, Covid-19’s external efforts, and employee diversity during fiscal year 2020 in its most recent statement of representation, which said it received annual compensation totaling $ 16.7 million. Smith owns about 732,000 shares of Microsoft, worth about $ 217 million, according to FactSet.
He joined Microsoft in 1993 from the Covington & Burling law firm to run Microsoft’s legal and corporate affairs in Europe and became Microsoft’s general counsel in 2002. During the following decade he managed the resolution of antitrust cases, according to the biography.
Smith became president of Microsoft and joined Netflix’s board of directors in 2015. He is the author, along with Carol Ann Browne, of “Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age,” a book of 2019 which deals with privacy and security.
Smith will continue to report to Nadella, Microsoft said.
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