Good morning. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella says he’s raising the bar on operational excellence within the company. So, the tech giant has created a new chief operating officer position and hired a Fortune 500 CFO to take on the role.
Carolina Dybeck Happe is joining Microsoft as EVP and COO and will become a member of the senior leadership team reporting to Nadella. Dybeck Happe was most recently at GE in the role of SVP and CFO from 2020 until September 2023. She remained an SVP at GE for a period of time to assist with the transition.
“I’ve come to admire Carolina through her work as a global business leader, including most recently her role in leading GE’s historic turnaround,” Nadella said in a blog post on Sept. 12.
During her time at GE, Dybeck Happe worked with GE CEO Larry Culp to dismantle the conglomerate and give it new life. They succeeded in delivering three independent, investment-grade companies—GE HealthCare, GE Vernova (which houses the energy portfolio), and GE Aerospace. "Under Larry’s leadership, we’ve worked to transform one of the world’s most iconic companies," Dybeck Happe said last year.
Now, she will bring her “lifelong passion for technology” and global experience to Microsoft to deliver transformation at scale, Dybeck Happe said in a LinkedIn post last week. “When I first spoke with Satya Nadella about Microsoft’s AI transformation, I immediately saw the incredible opportunity for AI to benefit every aspect of its business as a catalyst for innovation, growth, and value creation.”
The commerce and ecosystems organizations, the Microsoft Digital IT team, and the Microsoft Business Operations org in the finance department will now all report to Dybeck Happe. As COO, she will most likely collaborate often with longtime Microsoft CFO Amy Hood.
Over the past decade, about 35% of large companies have utilized a COO position, according to executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates’ mid-year Volatility Report. But in 2022, it reached 39.6%. And in the first half of 2024, about 35.9% of companies have a COO. The findings are based on data from 671 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies. The COO role is seemingly making a comeback.
Some finance chiefs have added on the role of COO to their duties, like Block CFO Amrita Ahuja and Macy’s CFO Adrian Mitchell. And Target CFO Michael Fiddelke will move fully to a COO role, once the company chooses a new finance chief. So, what makes companies look to CFOs to fill chief operating officer jobs?
A COO’s core job is to ensure "the trains run efficiently, and one of the truest measurements of efficiency is financial health,” Scott W. Simmons, comanaging partner at Crist Kolder told me. Operational efficiency and financial health go hand in hand, he said.
At Microsoft, Dybeck Happe will need to tap into her vast experience to drive continuous business process improvement and accelerate company-wide AI transformation. And all signs indicate that she's ready.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
