Ballmer's leaving: Who's next?

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  • Kevin Turner

    Kevin Turner

    Microsoft Steve Ballmer announced that he is stepping down from his position as CEO — one that he has held for 13 years. The first question we all have is who will be his successor? Ballmer hasn't appeared to be preparing anyone specifically for the job so Mary Jo Foley has put this list together .

    One of the names most prominently is current COO Kevin Turner. He was the frontrunner at one point but his stock his fallen recently.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Tony Bates

    Tony Bates

     Microsoft acquired Tony Bates along with its purchase of Skype. He's been running Skype and has moved up the ranks recently as the head of business development and evangelism. Mary Jo Foley says he's near the top.

     

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Tami Reller

    Tami Reller

    Tami Reller is a 12-year veteran of Microsoft and is Executive VP of Marketing for the Windows team.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Satya Nadella

    Satya Nadella

    Satya Nadella has the advantage of having served in several management positions aorund Microsoft and is now president of the Server and Tools Business.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Stephen Elop

    Stephen Elop

    Before taking over as CEO of Nokia in 2010, Stephen Elop served as president of the Microsoft Business Division. Elop and Ballmer inked a major partnership to make Nokia prime partner for Windows phones.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Stephen Sinofsky

    Stephen Sinofsky

    Stephen Sinofsky former head of Windows left on his own or was booted the company in 2012 after disappointment with his pet project Windows 8 . However, he is capable. Can he do what Steve Jobs did upon his return to Apple?

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Kevin Johnson

    Kevin Johnson

    Kevin Johnson has retired twice already. Once from Juniper Networks and once from Microsoft. He did run Platforms and Services for Microsoft before he left.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Terry Myerson

    Terry Myerson

    Windows Phone VP Terry Myerson is a potential candidate. He recently made news when he said his company didn't need to build a Windows phone.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Julie Larson-Green

    Julie Larson-Green

    Microsoft has employed several females in their management level including Julie Larson-Green who is  executive vice president, devices and studios.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Qi Lu

    Qi Lu

    Qi Lu's stock is on the rise. He's been head of Microsoft's Online Services Division, is now chief of the new Applications and Services group in the most recent reorg . Lu is in charge of engineering for Bing, MSN, Office 365, Office servers (Exchange, SharePoint, Lync) and clients, Dynamics CRM and ERP, Skype and Yammer.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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Steve Ballmer said he's leaving his CEO position Microsoft in a year, but there's no real frontrunner for his succession. Here's our top 10 contenders.

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Kevin Turner

Microsoft Steve Ballmer announced that he is stepping down from his position as CEO — one that he has held for 13 years. The first question we all have is who will be his successor? Ballmer hasn't appeared to be preparing anyone specifically for the job so Mary Jo Foley has put this list together .

One of the names most prominently is current COO Kevin Turner. He was the frontrunner at one point but his stock his fallen recently.

Caption by: Andy Smith

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