Bloomberg reports Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may be planning a reorganization of the company's leadership structure, following the exodus of Xbox CEO and President Don Mattrick to Zynga. Part of the reorganization will be the promotion of Julie-Lawson Green, currently head of the Windows division at Microsoft, to becoming head of the company's hardware division, effectively putting her in charge of Xbox, as well as Surface, Kinect, etc.
By coincidence, Julie Larson-Greenreceived a similar boost last year when former Microsoft head Steven Sinofsky abruptly left the company following the launch of Microsoft Surface. In her current position, Green is one of the few women in tech to be in charge of product development for a company this large, aside from Ubisoft's Jade Raymond.
Larson-Green has extensive experience in programming and management, and is publicly profiled as a collaborator in the often rumored to be tenuous leadership within Microsoft. Her accomplished profile includes work on several iterations of Office. She was also in charge of the succesful launch of Windows 7.
Other rumored shifts would make Skype President Tony Bates head of acquisitions, server business manager Satya Nadella head of cloud computing, and Windows marketing head Tami Reller in charge of all Microsoft marketing.
Microsoft declined to comment, as it's believed none of these changes have been announced while they remain in the planning stage. Overall, they're expected to centralize Microsoft's management efforts further, and keep a core group of bosses central to Ballmer.
By design, Xbox One incorporates elements of other Microsoft businesses, such as Skype, Explorer, the operating system, etc. If these changes push through, the console may benefit, not only through the change in leadership, but through closer collaboration with the company's other segments.
