Microsoft business development executive vice president Tony Bates and marketing chief Tami Reller are reportedly stepping down as part of the major management reshuffle following Satya Nadella took over as its CEO.
According to reports, the EVP of advanced strategy Eric Rudder would temporarily assume Bates’ duties, while Reller would be replaced with long-time Microsoft marketing executive Chris Capossela.
Citing unnamed sources, tech news site Re/code revealed that Bates will leave with immediate effect, while former political operative ‘Mark Penn’ would be appointed as its chief strategy officer.
Penn will be tasked with exploring new product areas and strategic investments for the software major.
Bates was deemed to be one of the possible CEO candidates as successor to Steve Ballmer, who announced his retirement in August 2013.
The software major is also working to boost its market share in mobile devices sector, and as part of its plan it acquired Nokia’s handset business, patents and mapping services for $7.2bn (£4.6bn).
