Microsoft’s Azure marketing chief is leaving to join SAP

Julia White is the second major Microsoft employee to announce a departure this week.

What you need to know

• Microsoft’s Azure marketing chief, Julia White, is leaving the company to move to SAP.
• While will become SAP’s chief marketing and solutions officer.
• She will also serve on the executive board of SAP.
• White has been with Microsoft for almost 20 years, including leading the marketing efforts of Azure.

Julia White, Microsoft corporate vice president of product marketing for Azure, developer tools, and servers, is leaving the company to join SAP. White will become SAP’s chief marketing and solutions officer and serve on its executive board. SAP announced White’s new role alongside the appointment of Scott Russell to its executive board, who has been president of SAP Asia Pacific Japan and APJ.

White has been with Microsoft for almost 20 years. She began as a product manager in the Windows Server division and later joined the Office Division as its general manager. People outside of Microsoft may best recognize her from her demos during Microsoft events. White presented at several Microsoft events over the years, including the announcement of the HoloLens 2 and Azure Kinect DK.

For the last five years, White has been in charge of marketing for Microsoft’s Azure.

According to ZDNet, who spoke with a Microsoft spokesperson, Microsoft will conduct an internal and external search for White’s replacement. Until a replacement is found, Azure Vice President John “JG” Chirapurath will become the interim marketing lead for Azure.

White’s move to SAP is the second noteworthy Microsoft departure this week. Earlier this week, Brad Anderson announced that he will leave Microsoft after over 17 years. Anderson will become the president of Products & Services at Qualtrics, which is owned by SAP.