Microsoft’s Larson-Green: Fun to be Nadella’s 'First Strategic Move

Julie Larson-Green, Microsoft’s (MSFT) former Devices chief who is shifting over to become chief experience officer of the Applications and Services Engineering Group (ASG) to accommodate incoming Nokia (NOK) honcho Stephen Elop, said the move was “part of the strategic direction of where [new chief executive] Satya [Nadella] is taking the company.”

The 21-year Microsoft veteran and the first woman at the company to run the Windows group told re/code in an interview at Mobile World Congress her new role is “kind of [Nadella’s] first strategic move. It’s fun to be that person.”

In her new post at ASG, which she’ll take on when Elop rejoins Microsoft once the company’s $7.2 billion Nokia acquisition finalizes later this quarter, Larson-Green will be responsible for the unification of experiences across various Microsoft services, including Bing, OneDrive and Skype, and the Office and Outlook platforms.

Here are a few excerpts from Larson-Green’s interview with re/code:

On her move to ASG after seven months running Devices:
I like the hardware stuff. It’s not quite as close to product design as I’d hoped. I knew that after Stephen Elop came in I would have an opportunity to rethink my role and what I wanted to do.

On Microsoft’s culture:
I think it is a time of re-evaluating and rethinking what we stand for and how we are going to help customers in the future. It’s a good team atmosphere.

On Microsoft’s technology future:
We have a lot of impact, maybe not inside that, call it technorati bubble. But we have a lot of impact around the world.

On her new role matching services and devices:
I have an iPhone, I have a Galaxy Note. I have an HTC One. I am a gadget girl. I have a FitBit, a FuelBand, all that stuff. You should see my living room. I have it all—TiVo, PS4, Xbox One. I think you have to live the life and understand how people are using technology and how it is fitting into people’s lives and what benefits it is providing for folks.

On Microsoft’s position in a mobile-centric world:
I think the vision of a computer on every desk has just evolved to be in every hand, in every pocket and every surface around you, no pun intended. We are going to be there with things you care about.