- M365 EVP steps down from leading the change over relocation concerns
- Microsoft is seemingly pursuing a more AI-centric approach to software
- No direct replacement, but other execs tasked with "figuring out" the future
Ryan Roslansky, Microsoft's EVP for LinkedIn and Microsoft 365, has announced plans to leave the company after 18 years, with company CEO Satya Nadella being drafted in to co-author an announcement to employees amid a broader organizational shift.
A former employee of LinkedIn before its Microsoft acquisition, Roslansky later went on to become LinkedIn's CEO in 2020, gaining M365 and Teams responsibilities in 2025 and 2026.
But his decision to depart the company doesn't come in response to a disagreement or better offer – instead, Roslansky cites his family as a key reason behind ending a near two-decade stint at Microsoft.
High-profile Microsoft EVP and former LinkedIn CEO to leave after nearly two decades
The leader explained that leading the next phase of Microsoft 365 would require him to be at the company's Redmond HQ full-time, but being based in the San Francisco Bay Area with a youngest daughter who's just started high school and having other familial ties to the area, Roslansky ultimately decided not to pursue a career leading M365.
"I thought about this for a long time. It’s the right call," he wrote to employees.
While Nadella confirmed a series of leadership changes as part of the transformation, the bigger question is what's likely to happen to Office and Teams under new leadership. Roslansky already knew that leading the change on M365 meant "figuring out what Copilot, and the future of work, should look like as one ecosystem."
For now, though, Microsoft 365 and Copilot continue to occupy increasingly complex and overlapped positions. Copilot launched as a mostly in-app support tool, but things have turned the other way and Microsoft is now looking to frame Copilot as a working environment much like ChatGPT Spaces, with its office software built into that experience.
That could be why we're not seeing a new EVP taking Roslansky's place, with responsibilities instead being split between other execs.
While the future of Microsoft's office and collaboration software is broadly unknown, both Nadella and Roslansky's messages do at least imply that the company is pursuing a more AI-centric approach. The news also supports the argument for hybrid and remote working, with the company set to lose one of its highest-profile leaders due to office-working worries.
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