Microsoft Comms Chief Frank Shaw To Leave After 17 Years

(MENAFN- PRovoke) REDMOND, WA - Frank Shaw is leaving Microsoft after 17 years leading the company's communications operation, bringing to an end a relationship with the tech giant that stretches back nearly three decades.

Before joining Microsoft in 2009, Shaw worked at WE Communications, where he ultimately served as president of the Microsoft account - giving him deep knowledge of the company well before he moved in-house.

“Today we announced that after 17 years as Chief Communications Officer at Microsoft, I've decided to leave the company,” Shaw wrote on LinkedIn.“Including my time spent supporting Microsoft at an agency, I've worked closely with the company for nearly 29 years.”

Shaw said he will remain at Microsoft through the end of the year while the company works through next steps. Microsoft is considering internal and external candidates for his successor.

The announcement comes seven months after Microsoft promoted longtime communications leader Ben Lampe to general manager of global communications, overseeing communications across all markets outside the US and reporting to Shaw. Lampe relocated from Munich to Redmond last year, a move Microsoft said at the time was part of long-term succession planning.

That longevity has given Shaw an unusually close view of Microsoft's evolution. He has led global communications through major changes in the company's leadership and business strategy, as well as more recent challenges including multiple rounds of layoffs and a security breach tied to a Russian hacking group.

Shaw has also been an unusually visible corporate communications leader, frequently taking to social media to challenge criticism of Microsoft and defend the company publicly.

Writing about Shaw in PRovoke Media's Influence 100 we noted that his years working on Microsoft at WE meant he arrived in-house already knowing virtually every facet of the business - institutional knowledge that became increasingly significant as the company went through years of transformation.

In announcing his departure, Shaw put much of the focus on the communications operation he leaves behind.

“The single biggest privilege I've had at work is leading the incredibly talented people who make up the global Microsoft communications team, past and present, and the agencies who support us,” he wrote.

He also thanked the reporters, editors, writers, influencers and analysts who have covered Microsoft over the years, joking about his early and late-night calls, off-the-record“no comments,” bad story ideas and“extended commentary on headlines and positioning.”

“More to say about next at some point, but today - just thank you,” Shaw wrote.

MENAFN11092026000219011063ID1111653558