Mark Penn, former presidential campaign chief for Hillary Clinton, was scooped up by Microsoft after the failed primary run and problems in later midterm elections. Penn was placed in the position of Corporate Vice President for Strategic and Special Projects and kicked off with his brainchild — a campaign against Google that goes by the name of Scroogled. Since that time Chromebooks, a recent target of the mudslinging, have gained market share, which neither proves real success, nor perhaps utter failure, as the operating system does appeal to a certain audience, many of whom simply don’t see these ads or read the propaganda.
Now, according to a new report from Bloomberg, all of this mediocrity has managed to get Mr. Penn a promotion within the company, thanks in part to the earlier announced musical chairs game of executives. With today’s announcement of moves, including the departures of Tony Bates and Tami Reller, Penn is being bumped to the role of Chief Strategy Officer.
Bloomberg cites “two people familiar with the changes” in its rather brief report. However, these are the first major changes taking place at Microsoft under the new leadership of Satya Nadella, and moves of many types seemed inevitable. Regardless of how anyone feels about Penn, or the job he has done thus far, change is needed at the software giant, and these certainly are only the tip of what may be a very large iceberg.
