Microsoft’s New Leadership: Pavan Davuluri Takes the Helm

Pavan Davuluri was announced as the new boss of Microsoft Windows and Surface

As India continues to reign with its intellectual prowess throughout the world, it makes a path for itself, moving upwards on the ladder of success. This statement holds relevance after IIT Madras graduate Pavan Davuluri was announced as the new boss of Microsoft Windows and Surface on Monday, March 25. This amendment was made after Panos Panay, who previously led the divisions, announced his departure from his positions last year and moved to Amazon. Before his promotion as the head of Microsoft Windows and Surface, Mustafa Suleyman, a former co-founder of DeepMind, was announced as the head of a new division of Microsoft called Microsoft AI. 

Davuluri is an ex-IITian from Madras and completed his post-graduation in MS from the University of Maryland. Following that, he joined Microsoft as the reliability component manager. He has been serving as the corporate vice president of the company for the last three years, after which he has undertaken new responsibilities. His new position makes him the next on the list of the most successful Indian individuals who have been leading international corporations with their leadership. Pavan Davuluri joined Microsoft in 2001. 

Previously, Microsoft divided itself into Windows and Surface groups, each with its respective leader. While Mikhail Parakhin looked after the Windows division, Davuluri led the team of Surface silicone work. But with Parakhin expressing his desire to assume “new roles,”  Davuluri was provided with the leadership responsibilities of both the Windows and Surface departments at Microsoft. 

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After his new role, Davuluri is set to report to Rajesh Jha, who serves as Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices. In an internal memo, Jha highlighted the various changes that were made in the operations of Microsoft. He wrote, “As part of this change, we are bringing together the Windows Experiences and Windows + Devices teams as a core part of the Experiences + Devices (E + D) division. This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era. Pavan Davuluri will lead this team and continue to report to me.” Other amendments that have been made to the teams are:

1. The teams of Shilpa Ranganathan and Jeff Johnson will report directly to Pavan Davuluri.
2. Windows will continue to work with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences. 
3. The team of Web Experiences will report to Mustafa as part of the new Microsoft AI organization.
4. Search, Maps, and Platforms will be led by Jordi Ribas, along with Andrey Proskurin, Fatima Kardar, and Nick Lee, who will be reporting to Jordi.
5. Advertising will be led by Rukmini Iyer and reported by Paul Viola and Weiqing Tu.
6. Mike Davidson will continue to lead Design and will be working in association with Pavan and his team to work on realigning Windows design. 
7. There are no changes to the positions of Ali Akgun, Kya Sainsbury Carter, Qi Zhang, and Rajesh Sundaram. They will be combining themselves with the Microsoft AI leadership team, including Jordi, Mike, and Rukmini, and subsequently reporting to Mustafa Suleyman.