This certainly isn’t as shocking as the Steven Sinofsky announcement on Monday. But here’s more evidence that Microsoft is shaking things up.
Bloomberg News reports that Andy Lees was recently chosen to lead the company’s corporate development and strategy operations. He is reporting to CFO Peter Klein in the new role, overseeing deals such as Microsoft’s investment in Barnes & Noble. The role of corporate development chief had been vacant since the departure of Hank Vigil last year.
Lees stepped down from his leadership positon on the Windows Phone team late last year, with CEO Steve Ballmer saying at the time that Lees would “move to a new role working for me on a time-critical opportunity focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8.”
Windows 8 has since launched, and now Lees has landed in the corporate development department. It will be interesting to watch what he accomplishes in the new role.
The Verge reports that the timing of the Lees appointment is interesting in light of the larger changes happening at Microsoft and since he was “effectively benched a year ago.”
