Microsoft isn’t always the quickest in updating the executive bios on its corporate Web pages. Sometimes the updates are quite rapid — when a high-level exec resigns (or is pushed).. Other times, former managers just disappear from the executive bio pages.
Recently Microsoft erased two profiles from its Executive profiles site.
Corporate Vice President Roz Ho, the former head of the Premium Mobile Experiences team (and one of the Microsoft execs most closely identified with the failed Kin phone effort), is no longer featured on the bio site. (In fact, Ho’s profile has been pretty thoroughly removed from search-engine caches, as well.)
And Craig Eisler, the former Interactive Entertainment Business Corporate Vice President who headed the Zune business, also is no longer listed on the Microsoft executive site. (Cue the rumors about Microsoft dropping plans to deliver one more Zune media player, rather than delivering one more Zune device, as company officials said in 2009 was the company’s intention.) Eisler’s bio is still findable via cached search-engine queries,but not on Microsoft’s Web site.
After asking around, I heard both Ho and Eisler are still with Microsoft. I’ve heard talk that the two are no longer Corporate Vice Presidents. Last I heard, Ho is now part of the Microsoft Mediaroom (and maybe the Orapa Mediaroom Next) teams. Eisler, according to one of my sources, is now working on something to do with Microsoft’s effort to get its Kinect sensor to work with Windows.
Microsoft officials declined to comment, as the company doesn’t typically discuss employee’s job changes or provide details about projects on which specific individuals are working.
Speaking of job changes, I did notice that Tom Gibbons, the former Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Mobile Device Strategy, has a new title and responsibilities. In his former job, Gibbons “manage(d) hardware development, ecosystem engagement and integration and oversees the executive relationships among phone device manufacturers (OEMs).” According to his new profile (updated on March 16, 2011), Gibbons is now Corporate Vice President, TV & Service Business in the Interactive Entertainment Business unit.
Gibbons “is responsible for driving subscriptions, usage and global partnerships for the TV & Service Business,” his new profile states. “Experienced in hardware, software and consumer product development, Gibbons leads the Xbox LIVE, Zune, PlayReady and Mediaroom businesses, and also manages the operator partnerships to drive expansion efforts and extend reach through new distribution channels and geographies.”
All of this “musical chairs” on the IEB side of the Microsoft house may simply be part of the rumored IEB reorganization that happened at the start of this year, about which Microsoft officials have declined to comment. But it’s also worth noting that Microsoft is focusing heavily on advancing and improving its TV/IPTV-related offerings in calendar 2011, as these new titles and shifts make even clearer….
