The joke around Redmond is that Kevin Scott, LinkedIn’s senior vice president of Infrastructure saw Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) position on LinkedIn and decided to drink the Kool-Aid.
Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for US$26.2 billion mid-last year and only closed the acquisition in late December. As Microsoft's CTO, Scott will drive strategic, cross-company initiatives to maximize Microsoft's impact with members and customers. He joins Microsoft's Senior Leadership Team, reporting directly to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella.
Nadella said, "We are thrilled that Kevin will bring to Microsoft his unique expertise developing platforms and services that empower people and organizations. Kevin's first area of focus is to bring together the world's leading professional network and professional cloud."
Scott said, "The thing that gets me up in the morning and that has always excited me about technology is its role in empowering people and helping to enrich their lives. I am very optimistic about where Microsoft is headed and how we can continue to use technology to solve some of society's most important challenges."
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Scott will continue to play an active role at LinkedIn and remain a member of LinkedIn's executive management team. His distinguished 20-year career spans both academia and industry as a researcher, engineer, and leader. Prior to his role as senior vice president of Engineering and Operations at LinkedIn, Scott held engineering leadership roles at Box.net, Google, and AdMob. He even had a college internship at Microsoft.
He is also an adviser to several Silicon Valley start-ups, an active angel investor and founder of the non-profit organization Behind the Tech.
He is widely acknowledged as the person that saved LinkedIn’s back-end systems from the brink of destruction in 2011. Even more impressive, Scott’s data storage and messaging systems have been open-sourced and used by other companies.
LinkedIn and Microsoft
Nadalla has said that LinkedIn will remain in its own form with a relentless focus on its members. The integration includes:
- LinkedIn identity and network in Microsoft Outlook and the Office suite
- LinkedIn notifications within the Windows action centre
- Enabling members drafting résumés in Word to update their profiles, and discover and apply to jobs on LinkedIn
- Extending the reach of Sponsored Content across Microsoft properties
- Enterprise LinkedIn Lookup powered by Active Directory and Office 365
- LinkedIn Learning available across the Office 365 and Windows ecosystem
- Developing a business news desk across our content ecosystem and MSN.com
- Redefining social selling through the combination of Sales Navigator and Dynamics 365
As Brad Smith recently shared, Microsoft – inclusive of LinkedIn – can take steps to help people develop new skills online, find new jobs and easily connect and collaborate with colleagues. Technology alone will not solve these challenges, but together, working across private and public sectors, Microsoft and LinkedIn can create more opportunity for everyone to participate and share in economic growth.