Microsofts human-resources chief Lisa Brummel leaving

Originally published November 10, 2014 at 7:06 PM | Page modified November 10, 2014 at 8:50 PM

Lisa Brummel, leader of Microsoft human resources for nearly a decade, will step down at the end of the year.

Brummel, executive vice president for human resources, is a 25-year veteran of the company and part-owner of the Seattle Storm. She has held a variety of roles in management and marketing in Microsofts hardware, consumer and productivity businesses, and has led human resources since 2005.

She will be succeeded in the HR post by Kathleen Hogan, who currently leads Microsoft Services.

Microsoft Services, with about 21,000 employees, is Microsofts customer-support and consulting network and the largest single organization within the company.

Hogan joined Microsoft in 2003, and previously worked for the McKinsey consulting firm, as well as Oracle.

Kathleen is an accomplished, well-respected and well-rounded leader who obsesses over our customers and is motivated by peoples passion for how technology can change the world, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said. She is the right person to continue pushing our cultural transformation forward, and she will ensure Microsoft remains the best, most inclusive place to work.

Brummel grew up in Westport, Conn., and joined Microsoft in 1989 after receiving a masters in business administration from UCLA. An athlete during undergraduate years at Yale University, Brummel was part of a group of four Storm season-ticket holders who joined forces to buy the team from Clay Bennett in 2008.

Most of Brummels years at the helm of human resources came during Microsofts oft-criticized practice of stack-ranking, the process of ranking employees during performance reviews. Some employees said the system lowered morale and limited the incentives for workers to collaborate.

Under stack ranking, managers were required to designate their staff into five groups from top to bottom performers based on set percentages. Even if everyone in a team performed well, managers were required to designate some as underperformers.

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Microsofts human-resources chief Lisa Brummel leaving