Microsoft puts Brad Smith in charge of communications

Microsoft’s communications are moving over to the legal and corporate side of the house.

Microsoft is moving its communications group out of marketing and into its Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) organization. The surprise change will see Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith oversee communications, while the company searches for a replacement for Frank Shaw, chief communications officer, who is departing later this year.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella thanked Shaw “for everything he has done for Microsoft” in an internal memo announcing the communications changes. Shaw announced earlier this month that he’s leaving Microsoft after nearly three decades supporting the company’s communications.

Brent Colburn, VP of global public affairs, has been appointed as interim communications leader to help navigate what Nadella calls “a media environment that is increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever.” Nadella also says he’s “excited about the opportunity to help our engineers, sellers, partners, and others closest to our products and customers become an even bigger part of how we tell our story.”

As GeekWire points out , that sounds a lot like how AI startups work, with researchers leading the demos and blogs at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Microsoft has been chasing Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI to “become one of the top four labs in the world,” according to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. In an interview with The Verge earlier this year, Suleyman said he wants Microsoft “to build the very best frontier models in the world.”

Brad Smith, who’s taking over communications from chief marketing officer Takeshi Numoto, is often the public face of Microsoft’s policy and corporate communications. Smith travels the world meeting with governments, regulators, and Microsoft’s customers. It’s still not clear who will take over permanently from Shaw later this year, but Microsoft is looking at both internal and external candidates.

Communications has never been more important to Microsoft. The company is changing, our industry is changing, and the world around us is changing. And in a media environment that is increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever, we need to continue to be grounded in our mission, earn trust each day, and find new ways to connect directly with all of our constituencies. I first want to thank Frank for everything he has done for Microsoft. He has made tremendous contributions to the company and to our communications function over the last 17+ years. And he’s been a great source of counsel to our leadership team and to me personally, across the company’s biggest moments. As Frank prepares to embark on his next chapter, Takeshi, Brad, and I have been discussing the evolution of comms at the company. I have asked Brad to lead the communications function going forward. Few leaders embody Microsoft’s voice as authentically as Brad. He brings a deep understanding of our business, a strong connection to our stakeholders, and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, conviction, and trust. During this transition, Brent Colburn will continue reporting to Brad and will now act as our interim communications leader. The comms leadership team will report to Brent, and Frank will continue to advise Brad and Brent on the transition. In many ways, the people closest to the work have the best opportunity to shape how Microsoft is understood. We need to give people across the company the tools and support to do it well. And I’m excited about the opportunity to help our engineers, sellers, partners, and others closest to our products and customers become an even bigger part of how we tell our story, all connected by a shared strategy and set of principles. All of you have a critical role to play in making that possible. We have an exciting fall ahead, with a number of important moments and events coming up and great marketing behind them. It is a real opportunity to bring together our product story, our marketing, and our communications in new ways. We will learn, we will experiment, and we will evolve. There is a fundamentally new way to think about communications, and this team will be central to building it. Thank you for everything you do for Microsoft, and for the role you each play in telling our story. Satya