Robert J. Bach

Robert J. Bach, commonly known as Robbie Bach, was the President of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft. He led the division that is responsible for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune, Windows Games, Windows Mobile and the Microsoft TV platform. On May 25, 2010, Robert J. Bach and division chief technology officer James Allard announced their retirement from Microsoft effective in the fall of 2010.

Biography
Robbie Bach was born in Peoria, Illinois, on 31 December 1961 and is the son of a former Schlitz executive. He played competitive tennis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar. After graduating with a degree in economics, he worked at Morgan Stanley before going on to receive an MBA from Stanford. He joined Microsoft in 1988 and has been with the company ever since. He is married with three children. Many in his family have also been keen on athletics: brother Tom ran track at Northwestern, brother Peter played tennis at USC, nephew Aaron played tennis at Queens College, nephew Justin played tennis at UVA, nephew Brian played baseball at Wake Forest, and nephew Matt played football for Furman.

Microsoft Office
As the top marketing executive in charge of Microsoft Office during the 1990s Bach battled against Corel and Lotus when they had 80% market share to Microsoft's 20%. Microsoft Office suite is now Microsoft's second most profitable product, garnering billions in revenue.

Microsoft Europe
From 1990 to 1992, Bach served as the business operations manager for Microsoft Europe, reporting to the president of Microsoft Europe in Paris, where he coordinated business planning and strategy, budgeting, and special projects. He also helped unify Microsoft's once-divided European local units.

President, Entertainment & Devices Division
As president of the Entertainment & Devices (E&D) Division at Microsoft Corp., Robbie Bach drives the company's Connected Entertainment vision, offering consumers new and compelling, branded entertainment experiences across music, gaming, video and mobile communications. Bach's responsibilities include guiding software, services and hardware innovation throughout Microsoft's entertainment and mobility platforms, and bringing those solutions to market with retailers and partners. Bach also manages Microsoft's worldwide retail relationships as well as media and entertainment partner relationships.

Microsoft titles

 * Product Manager (Microsoft Works)
 * Business Operations Manager (Europe)
 * Vice President of Marketing (Desktop Applications Division)
 * Vice President of the Learning (Entertainment and Productivity Division)
 * Vice President of the Home and Retail division
 * Senior Vice President of Home and Entertainment Division
 * President of the Entertainment and Devices Division

Boys and Girls Club
Bach sits on the board of governors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and is the interim chairman of the Entertainment Software Association.

Retirement
On 25 May 2010 it was announced that he will step down in the fall of 2010 after 22 years with Microsoft. He will remain with the company through fall 2010 to aid with the transition.