Microsoft’s consumer app initiatives gain a new exec
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central
Manik Gupta has joined Microsoft in the role of Corporate Vice President for Teams Consumer, Skype, and GroupMe. You can see the job title and status over on his LinkedIn profile.
This news comes via The Verge, which obtained an internal memo announcing the hire. Gupta will report to Jeff Teper, another CVP at Microsoft who leads teams for Microsoft 365.
The apparent reason for Gupta being snatched up by Microsoft is his history with consumer apps, hence his current job title and focus area at the tech giant. In the past, Gupta has worked at Uber as its CPO (Chief Product Officer) and has served as the director of project management for Google Maps over at — guess where — Google. He’s also served as a project manager at HP.
“I want us to go after these new opportunities with both ambition and clarity of long-term product vision,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a memo seen by The Verge. “Building new capability inside our organization to drive ‘consumer-grade’ product ethos will be key to our success.” This reiterates why someone with Gupta’s experience will be useful to the company going forward.
Here is a key segment from Teper’s memo outlining Gupta’s arrival:
I am thrilled to announce that we have hired Manik Gupta, as Corporate Vice President for Teams Consumer, Skype, and GroupMe. Manik will report directly to me assuming general management leadership for our end-to-end consumer strategy, vision, and execution. Manik’s experience at Uber as Chief Product Officer, at Google as Director PM for Google Maps, and his current role as an investor and advisor to early-stage, high-growth technology companies, will be invaluable to us building world-class consumer experiences across all of Microsoft. Manik will officially start on August 30th and will be based in the Bay Area.
It remains to be seen what Gupta’s effects will be on the assortment of consumer-grade apps coming to Windows 11.
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