John W. Thompson

John Wendell Thompson (born April 24, 1949) is the lead independent director of the Microsoft board of directors. He also served as chairman of the board from February 2014 to June 2021.

Education
Thompson received a bachelor's degree in business administration from in 1971 and a MA in management science from the  in 1983.

Career
Thompson joined in 1971, where he became general manager of IBM Americas. He joined in 1999, where he served as chairman and CEO for 10 years.

Microsoft
Thompson was appointed to the Microsoft board on February 20, 2012 and led the search to select Satya Nadella as the new CEO on February 4, 2014. The board announced on the same day that Thompson was succeeding Bill Gates as the new chairman. Thompson was part of the unanimous decision to elect Nadella as the new chairman on June 16, 2021, stating that he “earned the right to be chairman of the board” after overseeing a 650% growth in Microsoft's market value.