Julie Larson-Green

Julie Larson-Green
File:Julie Larson-Green at Microsoft PDC 2008, day two (3008163837).jpg Julie Larson-Green at Microsoft PDC '08
Born	Julie Larson 1962 (age 61–62) Maple Falls, Washington, U.S.
Residence	Austin, Texas. U.S.
Alma mater	Western Washington University Seattle University
Occupation	Executive Vice President Microsoft
Employer	Microsoft
Spouse(s)	Gareth Green (2 children)

Julie Larson-Green (born 1962) is the Chief Experience Officer of Microsoft's "My Life & Work" team at Microsoft, where she has worked since 1993.

Larson-Green notably managed the implementation of ribbons in Microsoft Office 2007, replacing the menu-driven interface with context-specific "ribbons" for which she won a technical leadership award in 2013. In addition, she led the efforts to work on a new platform and User Interface metaphor known as the Metro Style shipped as part of Windows 8, in 2012. "User interface is customer service for the computer."

Early life

Larson-Green grew up in Maple Falls, in Whatcom County, Washington.

Education and early career

Larson-Green graduated with a degree in business administration from Western Washington University. She got her first job in tech support for Aldus, creator of PageMaker Desktop Publishing Software. A self-taught programmer, Larson-Green completed her Master's in Software Engineering and was then recruited as Development lead at Aldus.

At Microsoft

In 1993, Larson-Green joined Microsoft as a program manager for Visual C++. In Microsoft, user experience became her passion. She oversaw the successful launch of Microsoft operating system, Windows 7. In 1997, she joined the Office team. She led UI design for Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007, as seen in her official Microsoft biography. Julie Larson-Green has been Corporate Vice President, Program Management, Windows Client. She has had between 1,200 and 1,400 program managers, researchers, content managers and other members of the Windows team reporting to her. She worked on the user experience for IE 3.0 and 4.0 and then, in 1997, to the Office team to work on FrontPage, where she got her first group program manager job. She also did a stint on the SharePoint Team Services team when SharePoint was known as "Office.Net."

In November 2012, Larson-Green was promoted to be the head of all Windows software and hardware engineering, in the wake of the sudden departure of Steven Sinofsky.

Devices and Studios Engineering Group

As part of a Microsoft reorganization in July 2013, Larson-Green was named as the head of the newly formed Devices and Studios Engineering Group. The new division oversees the company's various efforts in hardware, particularly the Xbox One and Surface tablet. Some gamers reacted to the news with comments that were described as misogynistic.

In February 2014, it was announced that Larson-Green would move to the role of Chief Experience Officer of Microsoft's "My Life & Work" team, a move interpreted by many as making way for Stephen Elop, joining Microsoft as part of its acquisition of Nokia's devices business, to become head of the devices organization within Microsoft.