In today’s installment of “As the Tech World Turns” …
A former Microsoft exec is returning to the company from Google to lead its security initiatives, replacing the former Amazon exec who’s exiting the security role to live out a longstanding engineering dream, serving as an individual contributor at the Redmond company.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced Wednesday that Hayete Gallot is rejoining Microsoft from Google Cloud as executive vice president of security, taking over the organization built by Charlie Bell in the more than four years since he joined Microsoft from Amazon Web Services.
Nadella said in the post that he had asked Bell “to take on a new role focused on engineering quality, reporting to me,” adding that they had been planning the transition for some time, “given his desire to move from being an org leader to being an IC engineer.”
Gallot was most recently president of customer experience for Google Cloud. Before that, she spent more than 15 years at Microsoft in senior leadership roles across engineering and sales, helping build the Windows and Office franchises, including security solutions.
“As we embark on one of the most significant transformations in our lifetime, realizing the astonishing potential of AI will only succeed if we can secure AI solutions and make them safe,” Gallot wrote on LinkedIn.
In his tenure in the role, Bell oversaw the development of Microsoft’s Security, Compliance, Identity, and Management organization into a major business as the company faced intense scrutiny over high-profile breaches by Russian and Chinese hackers.
GEEKWIRE ARCHIVE: Exec inherits Microsoft’s complex security legacy
He led the Secure Future Initiative, launched in late 2023 and described as the largest cybersecurity engineering effort in Microsoft’s history, mobilizing the equivalent of 34,000 full-time engineers to overhaul the company’s security practices.
“Folks who’ve known me for the last 25 years will know that my LinkedIn title was simply ‘engineer’ for most of my executive career,” Bell wrote in a post about the news, adding that he’s excited to regain the title and “all the rights and privileges” that come with it.
