Microsoft Appoints Judson Althoff as Commercial CEO

Microsoft has appointed its Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff as the new CEO of its commercial business, as part of a leadership restructuring aimed at enabling CEO Satya Nadella to concentrate on the company’s technical advancements, especially in artificial intelligence. Althoff will lead a newly formed commercial organization that integrates sales, marketing, operations, engineering, and finance into one cohesive unit.

This move reflects Microsoft’s strategic focus on accelerating AI and cloud innovation while maintaining strong commercial growth. Under Althoff’s leadership, Microsoft has consistently achieved robust performance in its commercial cloud business, driven by AI-powered transformation and strong global partnerships.

Judson Althoff, who joined Microsoft in 2013 and has a long history in sales leadership roles at Oracle and EMC, is credited with building Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions into a major growth engine for the company. Takeshi Numoto, Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer, will report directly to Althoff and join the new organization, which now also encompasses Microsoft’s operations team to better align customer needs with service delivery.

CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that the reorganization will allow engineering leaders and himself to focus on ambitious projects including data center expansion, AI product innovation, and systems design. The merging of commercial and operations teams aims to tighten feedback loops and improve executional excellence.

Nadella described the AI shift as a tectonic platform change that demands balancing the management of Microsoft’s current commercial scale with investing in new, frontier-building technologies. This reshaping is intended to drive rapid learning, new workflows, and innovation across Microsoft’s entire technology stack.

Overall, the appointment signals Microsoft’s commitment to maintaining its leading role in the AI race while ensuring commercial growth remains a priority under focused leadership.