Microsoft appoints Brad Smith as new communications leader
Microsoft has restructured its communications team by moving oversight from marketing into Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs. Vice Chair and President Brad Smith will now lead the function following Frank Shaw's departure later this year after nearly three decades at Microsoft. CEO Satya Nadella praised Shaw in an internal memo while announcing Brent Colburn as interim leader during the transition. The shift reflects a broader strategy to decentralize communications, empowering engineers and product teams to shape narratives more directly—similar to practices seen in AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. This aligns with Microsoft's ambition under AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman to become one of the top four global labs for frontier models. Smith is known as a key public face of corporate communications, engaging frequently with governments and regulators globally.
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