Earlier this month, Microsoft chief marketing officer Mich Mathews announced she would be stepping down. However, the Redmond-based firm spent little time pondering her replacement, who we now know to be long-time executive Chris Capossela.

Mathews' departure is no doubt a sad one for many at Microsoft. Ranked 19th in a 2009 "25 Hottest Women of Business" report and featured in a "10 Power Women on Getting Ahead" article by Newsweek, she has been a very capable chief marketing officer, or CMO. In fact, she's been with Microsoft a total of 22 years.

"Twenty-two years in one place ... I feel like I've done so much ... Frankly it's time to do something new. It's half a lifetime. Microsoft was chapter one and it's time for a chapter two," Mathews told reporters. (Source: webpronews.com)

It's not yet clear exactly what Mathews plans to do.

Capossela an Office, SharePoint Hero

Stepping into some big shoes then is Capossela, who has also been with Microsoft for some two decades.

Recently, he's served as senior vice president in the Microsoft Office Division. In this role, he's been a key part of many different marketing projects, including those behind Office, Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, Visio, and others.

Capossela's Office successes are impressive, but most noteworthy may be the growth of SharePoint under his watch. It's not the Microsoft server product which has seen the most rapid growth.

Some neat facts about Capossela: he's got a Harvard University degree, he once worked as Bill Gates' speech assistant, and during a Windows 98 presentation some years ago plugged a scanner into a computer running a beta version of the operating system, only to watch in horror as the Blue Screen of Death set in, right in front of a live audience. (Source: pcworld.com)