Carolina Dybeck Happe, Microsoft’s new Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, previously held the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at General Electric from 2020 to 2024. Microsoft announced Dybeck Happe’s appointment, highlighting her global business leadership skills and her role in leading GE’s turnaround. Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, praised Dybeck Happe’s ability to drive transformational change at scale and improve customer experiences.
Microsoft’s decision to appoint Dybeck Happe comes as the company aims to capitalize on the rise of artificial intelligence and reposition itself internally and externally. Dybeck Happe will join Microsoft’s senior leadership team, reporting directly to Satya Nadella. Her task will be to drive continuous business process improvement across all of Microsoft’s organizations while accelerating the company’s AI transformation to increase value for customers and partners.
Under Dybeck Happe’s leadership, GE underwent a historic turnaround that involved a lean manufacturing overhaul and strategic asset sales. This transformed the company from a conglomerate at risk of bankruptcy into three independent, publicly traded entities. Microsoft hopes to leverage Dybeck Happe’s experience in driving scalable transformation to drive similar changes within their organization and enhance customer value.
Microsoft had not had an executive with the COO title since the departure of Kevin Turner in 2016. Dybeck Happe’s appointment is seen as a newly created role that focuses on driving business process improvement and accelerating the company-wide AI transformation. This is a departure from the focus of previous COOs at Microsoft, who emphasized sales and competitive positioning under the leadership of Steve Ballmer.
Dybeck Happe had announced her plan to leave GE last year and made a significant move by purchasing a home in the Seattle region in June. Prior to her role at GE, she held financial leadership positions at companies such as A.P. Moller – Maersk and ASSA ABLOY Group in Sweden and Denmark. Her diverse experience in financial leadership roles makes her well-equipped to lead transformative changes at Microsoft.
As part of her new role at Microsoft, Dybeck Happe will oversee key groups within the company, including the Commerce + Ecosystems organization in Cloud + AI, the Microsoft Digital organization in Experiences + Devices, and the Microsoft Business Operations organization in the company’s finance division. Dybeck Happe’s appointment reflects Microsoft’s commitment to driving continuous innovation and transformation within the company to deliver more value to its customers and partners.
