Paul
Maritz of Mercer
Island is a top
candidate to replace Steve Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft. He was with Microsoft
from 1986 to 2000. His last position was executive vice president of the
Platforms Strategy and Developer Group. He was part of the 5-person executive
management team and, according to Wikipedia, was the
third-ranking executive behind Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. He was responsible
for most of Microsoft's desktop and server software, including Windows and
Internet Explorer.
“Fortunately
for Microsoft and the future health of the Puget Sound economy there are two
strong contenders to replace outgoing Chief Executive Steve Ballmer — one at
hand and the other nearby.
.
. .
“The
obvious nearby candidate is Paul Maritz, a Zimbabwe native who led Microsoft’s platforms business and
developer relations when he left the company in 2000 after a 14-year run.
“Maritz
went on to lead strategy at business computing giant EMC and serve as chief
executive of Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtualization pioneer VMware, but all the
while kept his home on Mercer Island.”
Maritz’s local mansion is on the southwest point
of Mercer Island near Paul Allen’s campus/compound. A previous post with more
information about Maritz and his career and accomplishments was on 2/22/12.