Who are Microsoft's decision-makers?
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 and has been led since 2014 by Satya Nadella, now Chairman and CEO. In 2025 Nadella retired the long-standing Senior Leadership Team in favor of a smaller corporate group plus a ~35-person engineering leadership cohort. The senior team pairs long-tenured insiders — CFO Amy Hood, President and Vice Chair Brad Smith, CPO Amy Coleman — with the AI and commercial leaders driving its current strategy: Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, CTO Kevin Scott, and Commercial Business CEO Judson Althoff.
- CEO
- Satya Nadella (Chairman & CEO, since 2014)
- AI leaders
- Mustafa Suleyman (CEO, Microsoft AI); Kevin Scott (CTO)
- Founded
- April 4, 1975
- Employees
- ~228,000
- HQ
- Redmond, Washington, USA
- Notable
- Founded by Bill Gates & Paul Allen; public since 1986
- Satya NadellaChairman & Chief Executive OfficerCEO since 2014, Chairman since 2021Joined Microsoft in 1992; ran Server & Tools and the cloud business before becoming CEO; drove the Azure and AI/Copilot transformation. In 2025 he retired the long-standing Senior Leadership Team in favor of a smaller corporate group and a ~35-person engineering leadership cohort.
- Amy HoodExecutive Vice President & Chief Financial OfficerCFO since 2013Longtime finance chief overseeing Microsoft's shift to cloud and AI capital investment; joined Microsoft in 2002.
- Brad SmithVice Chair & PresidentPresident since 2015, Vice Chair since 2021Leads legal, corporate affairs, and global policy; joined Microsoft in 1993.
- Mustafa SuleymanExecutive Vice President & CEO, Microsoft AIIn role since March 2024DeepMind and Inflection AI co-founder; runs Microsoft AI, the consumer-facing Copilot, and Bing organization.
- Kevin ScottChief Technology Officer & EVP, AICTO since 2017Architect of Microsoft's platform AI strategy and the OpenAI partnership; previously an engineering leader at LinkedIn and Google.
- Judson AlthoffCEO, Commercial BusinessIn role since 2024 (joined Microsoft 2013)Runs Microsoft's worldwide commercial sales and go-to-market organization.
- Amy ColemanExecutive Vice President & Chief People OfficerCPO since 202525-year Microsoft veteran; succeeded Kathleen Hogan leading HR for ~228,000 employees, reporting to Nadella.
Who leads Microsoft?
Satya Nadella is Chairman and CEO, having joined Microsoft in 1992, run the Server & Tools / cloud business, and taken the top job in 2014. He is credited with the company's cloud-first, then AI-first turnaround and the deep OpenAI partnership. Co-founders Bill Gates (CEO 1975-2000) and the late Paul Allen built the original DOS/Windows franchises.
The core leadership team includes Amy Hood (EVP & CFO since 2013), Brad Smith (Vice Chair & President, leading legal and global policy), Mustafa Suleyman (EVP & CEO of Microsoft AI, running consumer Copilot and Bing), Kevin Scott (CTO & EVP of AI, architect of the platform AI strategy), Judson Althoff (CEO of the Commercial Business, running worldwide sales and go-to-market), and Amy Coleman (EVP & Chief People Officer).
Who actually makes buying decisions at Microsoft?
Strategy and the biggest bets are set at the top — Nadella and the senior leadership team own direction, with Suleyman and Kevin Scott shaping AI/infrastructure priorities and Amy Hood controlling the purse strings on capital allocation.
For vendors selling in, the operational buying committee usually sits one or two layers down: engineering and product leaders in the relevant org (Azure, M365, Security, Gaming) own technical evaluation and budget, while Judson Althoff's commercial organization and central procurement, finance, and security/compliance teams run the actual contracting. Expect a multi-stakeholder process with clear separation between technical champion, economic buyer, and procurement gatekeeper.
How is Microsoft organized as it scales?
Microsoft reports in three segments — Intelligent Cloud, Productivity and Business Processes, and More Personal Computing — but operationally it runs as large engineering groups (Cloud + AI, Microsoft AI, Experiences + Devices, Security, Gaming) plus the worldwide Commercial Business sales organization. In 2025 Nadella replaced the old Senior Leadership Team with a smaller corporate group and a roughly 35-person engineering leadership cohort that coordinates directly rather than through deep managerial chains.
With roughly 228,000 employees, it has been flattening management layers and reallocating headcount toward AI and cloud — including periodic workforce reductions totaling well over 15,000 roles in 2025 — even as it invests record amounts in datacenters. That means decision-making is increasingly concentrated around AI-strategic groups.
As of June 2026.Sources:Microsoft leadership (news.microsoft.com)Nadella dismantled Microsoft's leadership structure (The Next Web)Amy Coleman, EVP & Chief People Officer (Microsoft)
Microsoft — frequently asked questions
