In recent executive hiring news, former Meta vice president of infrastructure Jason Taylor has joined Microsoft as corporate vice president and deputy CTO for the company’s AI supercomputing efforts. Taylor brings over 13 years of experience from Meta, where he led various infrastructure projects. Prior to that, he was the CTO at ink2 and founded a gift certificate company called Lucidity in 1999. He also served as the chair of the Open Compute Project Foundation from 2015 to 2017, promoting best practices for data center IT infrastructure. Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott expressed excitement over Taylor’s decision to join the company, noting his track record of taking on complex computing challenges.
Another notable hire at Microsoft is John Aisien, who will be leading the company’s Unified Security Intelligence business. Aisien was previously the CEO of Blue Cedar, a mobile app security company, and has held executive roles at Mocana and Oracle. In addition, Jeff Blackburn, a former longtime Amazon executive, recently joined the board of DoorDash after retiring from Amazon in 2022. Blackburn had also joined the board of Roku the year before. Eric Benson, another former exec at AWS and VMware, has taken on the role of chief revenue officer at data startup Matillion, where he will lead cloud sales for the Americas. Benson splits his time between Bellevue, Wash., and Bend, Ore.
Seattle startup Esper, which specializes in helping companies manage fleets of devices, has named Sam Lee as its head of legal. Lee previously worked as the director of legal at Seattle startup Outreach and has experience at firms like J.P. Morgan and Kriss & Feuerstein. These recent executive hires reflect a continuing trend of tech leaders from prominent companies like Meta, Amazon, and VMware making strategic moves to drive growth and innovation in their respective industries. With a strong focus on areas such as AI, security intelligence, and data management, these executives bring a wealth of experience and expertise to their new roles.
Microsoft, in particular, seems to be building a powerhouse team with the addition of executives like Jason Taylor and John Aisien. Taylor’s background in AI supercomputing and infrastructure projects will be crucial as the company works to push the frontier of AI forward. Aisien’s experience in mobile app security and executive roles at companies like Mocana and Oracle will be invaluable in leading Microsoft’s Unified Security Intelligence business. These hires signal Microsoft’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technological innovation and addressing the evolving needs of the tech industry.
Overall, the recent executive hires across various tech companies demonstrate a competitive landscape where top talent is in high demand. Companies like DoorDash, Matillion, and Esper are tapping into experienced leaders from industry giants like Amazon and VMware to drive their growth strategies. By bringing in executives with diverse backgrounds in areas such as cloud sales, legal, and security intelligence, these companies are positioning themselves for success in a rapidly evolving tech ecosystem. The tech industry will continue to see dynamic shifts as companies vie for top talent to lead them into the next phase of innovation and growth.
