Microsoft Consumer CMO to Leave Company After 35 Years

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, announces that he is leaving the company after 35 years. 

In a memo to staff shared on LinkedIn, he writes: “After 35 extraordinary years at Microsoft – years filled with adventure, challenge, reinvention and innovation – I’ve decided the time is right to begin planning for my next adventure!

“It’s an exciting but difficult decision, as Microsoft has been far more than a place to work. It has truly been the canvas for my life’s work.”

Technological transformations

Yusuf first joined Microsoft in 1992, as a Director of Product Management, Internet Explorer and Windows. 

From there, he progressed to more roles across the business – working on product offerings such as Bing, MSN and Xbox 360. 

In his current role as Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, which he has held since 2023, Yusuf oversees the company’s end user experience, leads product marketing for Microsoft AI, Copilot and other web services, in addition to leading the company's global brand and advertising. 

“I’ve had the privilege of being a part of some of the most consequential shifts in technology – from the rise of Windows and the early Internet, to search, gaming, devices and now one of the most profound platform transitions yet: AI,” he explains. 

But while these transformations have been “remarkable,” Yusuf adds that “the most meaningful part of this journey has always been the people”.

“The teams I’ve worked alongside, learned from, built with and grown with are what have made this experience so special,” he notes. 

Reimagining Windows for the agentic era

However, while Yusuf is planning to step down from his role, he will remain with Microsoft for some time yet, continuing to work closely with CEO Satya Nadella and Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto. 

“In alignment with Satya and Takeshi, I will work through the next fiscal year to help reimagine Windows for the agentic era, grow Microsoft 365 services, and bring our One Copilot vision to life,” he writes. 

This, he explains, would help “ensure that I have the time and space to set the team – and the mission – up for continued success,” as the company is “in the middle of an incredibly important moment for Microsoft and our customers”.

Microsoft has been making significant strides in its approach to embedding agentic AI in Windows. 

Last year, it unified its Windows client and server teams under a single engineering work to better prepare for this agentic shift – which the company has said should allow Windows to better understand user intent. 

In an interview published by Microsoft, Pavan Davuluri, Executive Vice President of Windows and Devices for the company, said that these updates will change how people interact with Windows, and computers more broadly. 

He said: “I think we will see computing become more ambient, more pervasive, continue to span form factors, and certainly become more multi-modal in the arc of time. I think experience diversity is the next space where we will continue to see voice becoming more important. 

“Fundamentally, the concept that your computer can actually look at your screen and is context aware is going to become an important modality for us going forward.”