Microsoft Names Former Symantec CEO To Its Board

Former Symantec CEO John Thompson has been appointed to Microsoft's board of directors, the company said Monday.

Thompson's appointment brings the board back up to its traditional complement of 10 directors.

Thompson is currently CEO of San Jose-based Virtual Instruments, a privately held developer of software used to manage the performance of applications deployed in virtualized and private cloud environments.

That post stems from Thompson's work as an investor in early-stage technology companies in the Silicon Valley region. He also serves on the board of United Parcel Service.

Thompson served as CEO of Symantec, the developer of security, storage and systems management technology, from 1999 to 2009. During that 10-year span the company's sales grew nearly 10-fold from $692 million to $6.2 billion. Thompson remained on Symantec's board until 2011.

Before joining Symantec Thompson held a number of management positions in sales, marketing and software development at IBM and served as general manager of IBM Americas.

"John brings a wealth of experience, from enterprise customers to individual consumers, as well as the insights that come from running a successful large global software company and a fast-emerging startup. He will be a great addition to our board," said Microsoft CEO and board member Steve Ballmer, in a statement.

Microsoft co-Founder and Chairman Bill Gates said Thompson "has extraordinary technology and business expertise," in the statement.

Microsoft's board has had only nine directors since 2009 when James Cash, a Harvard business professor, did not stand for re-election.

Microsoft's other directors include Dina Dublon, former chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase; Raymond V. Gilmartin, former chairman, president and CEO of Merck & Co. Inc.; Reed Hastings, founder, chairman and CEO of Netflix Inc.; Maria M. Klawe, president, Harvey Mudd College; David F. Marquardt, general partner at August Capital; Charles H. Noski, vice chairman of Bank of America Corp.; and Helmut G. W. Panke, former chairman of the board of management at BMW AG.