Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela departs the company after 32 years

Microsoft is making some changes at the top of its marketing division. Chris Capossela, who has worked at Microsoft for 32 years, most recently as its Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, has announced he is departing the company.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Capossela stated:

The opportunity to spend so many years at Microsoft, work with Satya as CEO, and turn the company into a Cloud and AI powerhouse is an amazing gift that I don’t take for granted. Microsoft has literally opened the world to me, allowing me to travel from Accra to Zagreb, while working on every product from Azure to Xbox.

Capossela stated that Takeshi Numoto, Microsoft’s Commercial Chief Marketing Officer, has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer. In addition, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, has also been promoted to Executive Vice President and will join the company’s Senior Leadership Team. Mehdi was named to be the head of Microsoft’s Windows and Surface businesses just a few weeks ago.

In his X message, Capossela stated he “couldn’t be happier for Takeshi and Yusuf,”and added:

In the short term, I’m focused on supporting Takeshi’s and Yusuf’s transitions into their new roles, and looking ahead, I’m excited to figure out the next chapter of my life.

In an internal email that was posted on Microsoft’s site, CEO Satya Nadella stated:

Over the many years we’ve worked together, I’ve known and respected Chris as a leader who has exemplified a complete, unwavering commitment to our mission and our culture. As a leader and a colleague, he’s always shown how deeply he cares about both the “what” and the “how” of driving our business forward. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work closely with him and for the significant impact he’s had on our company through marketing leadership, championing our culture and D&I, and developing world class talent that will serve us well into the future.

Capossela joined Microsoft in 1991 and rose through the ranks of the company through the decades. At one point he was the speech assistant for then Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. He was in charge of a fairly memorable Windows 98 demo with Gates on stage at COMDEX in 1998, where after connecting a scanner to a PC, the monitor quickly put out a Blue Screen of Death message.

Capossela has served as Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer since March 2014, according to his LinkedIn page.