Microsoft's chief diversity officer to leave amid major HR team overhaul

Microsoft's chief diversity officer will be departing the tech giant as its human resources team undergoes a major shake-up amid the company's "AI-powered transformation."

Lindsay-Rae McIntyre is leaving Microsoft on 31 March after eight years with the organisation, according to chief people officer Amy Coleman, in a memo published by Business Insider.

"Over the last eight years, Lindsay-Rae set a clear standard for talent development and inclusive leadership at scale," Coleman said in the memo.

"She asked thoughtful questions, challenging the status quo in service of our commitment to our company and representing our customers."

McIntyre is leaving to be a chief people officer in another organisation, Coleman added.

"This is an exciting next chapter and a reflection of the strength and credibility she's built across the industry and in our profession," she said.

McIntyre's departure comes as Microsoft's HR team gets an overhaul in leadership.

Under the shift, its HR4HR and culture and inclusion teams will be merged into a newly formed people and culture team that will be led by Leslie Lawson Sims, VP, people and culture.

Diana Navas-Rosette, GM, culture and inclusion, will be reporting directly to Sims.

"Inclusion shows up in how leaders set clarity and model the behaviours we want to see, how teams invite in different perspectives, and how we build products that meet the needs of our customers around the world. I'm excited to see this work continue as part of this new team," Coleman said.

Major HR shifts at Microsoft

Meanwhile, all engineering HR teams will also be brought together under one team led by Mel Simpson, CVP, engineering HR.

Its people analytics teams will also be placed under its employee experience team, which is led by Nathalie D'Hers, CVP, employee experience.

Reporting to D'Hers will be Kanwal Safdar, GM, people analytics.

"This brings analytics capabilities closer to the experiences and decisions they inform, enabling faster learning and stronger insight to action loops," Coleman said.

"The leaders will work together over the next month to define how we bring analytics resources closer to the business while preserving the strengths of the team's partnership mode."

Microsoft is also bringing together its talent management, leader development, manager capability, and aspire teams under a new talent development team.

Wyatt Cutler, VP of talent at Synopsys Inc, is returning to Microsoft to lead this new talent development team.

"Wyatt has deep expertise in creatively growing manager capability and building durable succession strategies for fast-moving environments, bringing his experience from Synopsys, AWS, and PayPal," Coleman said.

Coleman also announced that Microsoft is in the "final stages of hiring" a dedicated Global Talent Acquisition leader, who will be reporting to her.

Kristen Roby Dimlow is currently in the position until a new individual takes over the role.

"We've been intentional about finding the right leader, with the skills, experience, and leadership required for this moment and I look forward to introducing them soon," Coleman said.

Microsoft confirmed the memo's legitimacy to CNBC, saying it is transforming its people function so the company "remains a place where our employees can do their best work."

"The organisational updates we are making today align closely to our business priorities, and simplify how we operate in support of our employees and customers," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. 

'AI-powered transformation'

The major HR shifts come as Microsoft navigates the evolving nature of work, according to Coleman.

"The pace of change is exceeding what our current operating model and decision rhythms were built for. We're no longer being asked to scale for stability; we need to scale for adaptability and help set a new pace," she said.

"Given this, our function has to evolve for the Microsoft we are becoming."

Coleman also mentioned in the memo that its people function will be leading the "next phase of AI-powered transformation across the company."

According to CNBC, Microsoft did not immediately comment on what the transformation meant to its HR team.

However, Coleman announced in the same memo that Microsoft is creating a new dedicated Workforce Acceleration team to activate the "right workforce levers" amid emerging human-agent collaboration.

This new team will be led by Justin Thenutai, VP, Workforce Acceleration, who Coleman said will give the work the focus and momentum it requires.

"Skilling, redeployment, workforce planning, and the emerging human-agent collaboration form the connected set of capabilities that help us think about talent and reinvention differently and accelerate our workforce," Coleman said in the memo.

"Bringing these levers together under one leader allows us to test and learn faster with the business, so we can scale what works and win in our next chapter."