‘This decision comes from a place of gratitude, joy, fullness and optimism for the future,’ Microsoft executive Vasu Jakkal said.
Channel-facing Microsoft executive Vasu Jakkal is leaving her role as corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity, management and privacy as the technology giant enters its 2027 fiscal year.
Jakkal joined the Redmond, Wash.-based security vendor about six years ago and worked “across all functions to drive Microsoft’s security strategy and growth” for this $20 billion business, according to her LinkedIn account. She did not detail her next role, instead saying she is “excited about what the future holds for everyone” and “here’s to amazing new oceans.”
“After six years of building our incredible Microsoft Security business alongside my amazing team and colleagues, I want to share that I have made the decision to leave Microsoft,” Jakkal wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday. “This decision comes from a place of gratitude, joy, fullness and optimism for the future. I am so proud of the world-class organization we have built.”
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Jakkal Reflects on Building Microsoft’s $20 Billion Security Business
CRN has reached out to Jakkal and Microsoft for comment.
Microsoft has more than 15,000 security ecosystem partners and more than 500,000 partners worldwide, according to the vendor.
The security business has proven a major opportunity for various Microsoft solution providers. Kelly Yeh, president of Chantilly, Va.-based Microsoft solution provider Phalanx Technology Group, told CRN in a recent interview that he has worked with customers to understand more restrictive cyber insurance policies and compliance requirements around telework.
Yeh has emphasized educating customers on best security practices and has been preaching about the importance of separating work and personal devices as clients prepare for workers tempted to share work devices with children on summer vacation, as an example, while also developing his tool stack to push security further down to the endpoint.
“You have got to try to secure the endpoints, and they’re no longer, the majority of the time, on your network behind your firewall being protected by multi layers of defenses,” Yeh said. “People are blending their personal and their corporate stuff so much where they’re checking their personal Gmail accounts on their work laptops and you don’t know what the source of the of a virus or an attack is anymore because they’re just not on your network all the time, so you don’t get to see or block that traffic.”
Microsoft Security Leadership Changes Ahead of FY2027
Jakkal (pictured) helped build the security customer solution area after joining Microsoft and called Microsoft Security “the #1 security business in the world” in her LinkedIn post. She thanked Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft Commercial CEO Judson Althoff and a host of other executives for supporting her at the company.
Her Microsoft responsibilities included “managing the end to end business, crafting the overall strategy, defining GTM & guiding the execution of all aspects of marketing including product positioning, packaging, industry thought leadership, target customer definition, competitive strategy & tactics; industry analyst engagement, media relations, channel engagement and demand gen well as working closely with engineering on shaping product strategy & roadmaps,” according to her LinkedIn account.
Before joining Microsoft, Jakkal served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer at FireEye for about three years, leaving in 2020, according to her LinkedIn account. Her resume includes about three years with Brocade, leaving in 2017 as vice president of corporate marketing and strategy.
Microsoft enters its 2027 fiscal year on Wednesday. Earlier this year, Hayete Gallot boomeranged back to Microsoft after a brief stint at Google Cloud, replacing Charlie Bell as executive vice president of security.
Other changes at the highest levels of the technology giant include Rajesh Jha, a 35-plus-year Microsoft veteran who ascended the ranks to executive vice president of the Experiences + Devices Group, moving into an advisory role on Wednesday alongside other executive promotions.
Microsoft has also restructured divisions to better unify innovation of its Copilot artificial intelligence product across commercial and consumer users.
