14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft appointed Kevin Turner as the new chief operating officer. Turner will be responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Microsoft's sales, marketing and service professionals on a global basis as well as the company's fulfillment and IT operations.
Turner most recently served as president and chief executive officer of SAM'S CLUB, a warehouse club operation with over $37 billion in annual sales, and executive vice president of Wal-Mart Stores, where he was responsible for all operations for SAM'S CLUB locations in the United States. Before that, Turner served as executive vice president and chief information officer for Wal-Mart, a role in which he oversaw all information systems operations for the company worldwide.
Turner's first day at Microsoft will be Sept. 8. Kevin Johnson, current group vice president of worldwide sales, marketing and services at Microsoft, will work closely with Turner to ensure a smooth transition, during which Johnson will continue in his role through Microsoft's fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30. Following the transition, Johnson will be named to a new senior executive role, the details of which will be announced within the next 30 days.
Johnson has led Microsoft's worldwide sales, marketing and services organization for more than three years. Under his leadership, Microsoft has experienced record revenue based on strong growth across many business groups including Windows, Office and Windows Server System. At the same time, Johnson has dramatically improved customer satisfaction with Microsoft products and services.
"Over the past 13 years Kevin Johnson has had an immense impact on the success we have realized at Microsoft. Under his leadership of our sales and marketing group, Microsoft has grown revenues by more than $7 billion in the past three years alone," Ballmer said. "As he is one of Microsoft's strongest executives, I look forward to further applying Kevin's leadership in a very exciting capacity to be announced in the near future."