Microsoft veteran and Office VP Belfiore is leaving just before the April launch of Windows 10 to allow his successors to fully take over the company’s product line-up.
Joe Belfiore, who has been the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Office Group for the past two years and with the company in various roles for 32 years, has announced his retirement. Belfiore and Microsoft management announced his departure on October 27 via internal e-mails.
Word has it that this was a decision made by Belfiore himself instead of being forced. And that his departure won’t change anything with Office’s priorities. He will hand over his direct reports immediately, but he will stay on as a senior advisor and coach until next summer to help in the transition.
Belfiore has announced his retirement today.
From Belfiore’s email to the troops from today — a copy of which I saw and verified with Microsoft was real:
Today, I am writing to let the world know that I will be retiring soon after a 32-year career of creating amazing products and services.
He said:”This summer, I’ve went through the experience in sending my oldest child off to college which has brought up some new realization. It seems that there’s not much time left for us to continue working and prioritize our kids and families before our last family member moves out of the house.”
In 1990, Belfiore got his start at Microsoft as a software developer. In addition to working on the Windows 95 team, he also worked on the Internet Explorer, Windows XP, Microsoft eHome division, Entertainment & Devices, Windows Phone and Windows 10 teams in management roles over the years. Belfiore announced in 2015 that he was taking a one-year leave of absence for family reasons before returning to Microsoft the following year.
Belfiore took another leave of absence from Microsoft to spend more time with his family. After that, he returned to the company and led the cross-platform Office Experience Group (OXO) team under Corporate Vice President Ales Holecek. His team is responsible for many products like WORK, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Planner and Designer.
As of this week, Holecek will remain in a key role leading the Office product group. CTI executive Sumit Chauhan will take over as co-leader and report directly to Executive Vice President Rajesh Jha. Now, David Gainer — currently vice president of product — will be executive vice president and lead all of the Office product groups. The transition is taking place now and there should be no disruption in business.
