Microsoft plans to hand over the reins of Microsoft Office to longtime executive Julie Larson-Green, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans.
Microsoft Executive Julie Larson-Green to Take Over Management of Office Apps
Corporate VP Kirk Koenigsbauer, who has been in charge of the Office apps, will move to a role in the corporate marketing organization.
Microsoft
Kirk Koenigsbauer, the corporate VP who had been leading the company’s Office efforts, will shift to a role within the unit headed by chief marketing officer Chris Capossela, the sources said.
The move comes at a critical time for Office, long one of Microsoft’s two biggest money-makers, along with Windows. Microsoft is in the process of shifting Office from a piece of software that companies and individuals purchase and upgrade over time to one that is licensed via an annual subscription. The company has also been trying to grow Office, both in terms of the number of apps that are part of the suite and by bringing Office to new places, such as iOS and Android. Microsoft has also moved to make mobile Office apps free for devices with a 10.1-inch or smaller display.
Not all that work has been done in-house — the company spent $200 million to acquire Acompli, which became Outlook for the iPhone and Android, and has since acquired Sunrise and Wunderlist.
Larson-Green, who has been serving as chief experience officer for Microsoft’s services group, will keep those duties and add responsibility for the teams that develop mainstays like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as newer apps such as Sway.
In her more than 20 years at Microsoft, Larson-Green has had a number of prominent roles, including being the first woman to run the Windows engineering team as well as a brief stint running Microsoft’s devices unit. Prior to working in Windows, Larson-Green was a top executive in the Office unit.
A Microsoft representative was not immediately available for comment.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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