Microsoft Names Former Wal-Mart Exec As Chief Operating Officer

Microsoft on Thursday named Kevin Turner, a 40-year-old former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive who started there as an hourly employee, as its new chief operating officer.

Turner, who was president and CEO of Wal-Mart division Sam's Club and an executive VP at Wal-Mart, will start at Microsoft on Sept. 8, the company said. Turner will oversee Microsoft's worldwide sales, marketing, and service staffs, as well as its distribution and IT operations. Kevin Johnson, the company's current group VP of sales, marketing, and services, will hand off his duties to Turner on Oct. 1, then take on a new "senior executive role," Microsoft said.

Turner started at Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, in 1986 as an hourly sales associate and rose through the company's ranks. He became Wal-Mart's CIO in 2000 after longtime CIO Randy Mott left the company to join Dell. Mott is now CIO at Hewlett-Packard. In a statement, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer cited Turner's background in technology, sales, and marketing.

The chief operating officer job at Microsoft has been vacant for three years since Rick Belluzzo, who joined the company in 1999, resigned in 2002. Belluzzo is CEO of data-storage company Quantum Corp.