Executive Vice President and CFO, Microsoft – 2013-present
The first female CFO in Microsoft’s history, Hood has a reputation for being the hidden dynamo behind Microsoft’s reinvention.
Two of the 60 channel leaders we approached put her in their top five. She is the second youngest, and one of four Microsoft leaders, in this countdown.
Having joined Microsoft’s investor relations team in 2002, Hood was elevated to the CFO role in 2013. She previously worked for Goldman Sachs.
Leadership style
Hood sees her CFO role as about more than just balancing the books, harbouring an aim of making all new recruits feel like they made the right choice joining Microsoft. “It’s about creating an environment in which you all remember that you still want to pick us every day. That’s my job as a CFO,” she reportedly said.
Low points
Microsoft reported its biggest ever quarterly net loss soon after Hood became CFO, as it wrote down its Nokia phone business.
Killer quote
“Don’t build a gold toilet.” (Hood’s advice to employees in a 2018 meeting, according to this report)
What our panellists said about Hood
Scott Dodds, CEO, Ultima
“If you look at the changes at Microsoft over the last eight or nine years, it’s just remarkable how they’ve moved the business, and I think she’s a major contributor to that. I worked with her a little bit before I left Microsoft, and I could see the impact she has on driving the efficacy of the business at the back end, and the investment side at the front end. She’s just been an incredible driver of that business, unseen by most people. She’s the one that enables the vision of Satya and a bunch of others to be delivered, and that’s an incredible legacy she’s leaving in that organisation.”
How did IT Channel Oxygen compile The Century’s Greatest Vendor Leaders? See here
