Kurt DelBene is an American business executive. He is currently the MicrosoftExecutive Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Core Services Engineering and Operations. Before taking this role, he served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Health of Human Services, appointed by President Obama to oversee the implementation and improvement of the Affordable Care Act, HealthCare.gov. Prior to that, he served in several leadership roles at Microsoft, including President of the Office Division from 2010-2013.
DelBene’s worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories as a software developer and systems engineer and as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co. prior to joining Microsoft.
Microsoft
DelBene worked in product development, before becoming President of the Microsoft Office business in 2010. Specifically, he served as the marketing and engineering leader for Office, Office 365, Exchange, Project, SharePoint, Visio and Lync. While overseeing Office, DelBene reported directly to former Microsoft Chief Executive OfficerSteve Ballmer, oversaw the launch and expansion of Office 365 and was credited with leading the Microsoft shift to the cloud. During his tenure, Office revenue grew from less than $5 billion to more than $22 billion. As part of a reorganization in July 2013, Microsoft announced that DelBene would be retiring. He continued with Microsoft as an adviser until mid-December.
HealthCare.gov
On December 17, 2013, the White House announced that DelBene would undertake a sixth-month effort to salvage the government’s health insurance website, HealthCare.gov. In a statement, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that she and President Obama chose DelBene to assist with this effort because of his experience working at Microsoft and his ability to manage and execute large scale technology projects. DelBene was responsible for improving the security, capacity, and reliability of the website that had been plagued with slow response times, crashes, and incorrectly transmitting users' information to insurers. At the end of his time in government, DelBene was credited with helping to stabilize the website. DelBene donated his salary back to the government.
Madrona Venture Partners
In September 2014, DelBene joined Seattle-based venture capital firmMadrona Venture Group as a venture partner. He was responsible for identifying new investment opportunities and providing strategic guidance to companies in Madrona's portfolio.
Return to Microsoft
In April 2015, Microsoft announced DelBene would return to Microsoft as EVP of Corporate Strategy and Planning, where he would join the company’s Senior Leadership Team, reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella. DelBene was responsible for future investment opportunities. DelBene led the acquisition and integration of LinkedIn, Microsoft’s biggest acquisition to date. In July 2017, DelBene received expanded responsibility and was given the title of Chief Digital Officer and EVP of Corporate Strategy, Core Services Engineering and Operations. In this role, he still oversees strategy but also the company’s internal Core Services Engineering and Operations groups.
