Leadership Changes for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

After six and a half years as general manager of Microsoft's Dynamics CRM product line, Brad Wilson will be transitioning his responsibilities to Dennis Michalis, who officially took over as general manager of the product line today. This is a transition that began several months ago and will continue through January.

Wilson, who is credited with helping to establish Microsoft’s position as a leader in the CRM space, is currently weighing his career options, according to a Microsoft spokesperson. CRM magazine named him an Influential Leader three years in a row (2006-2008) and again in 2010 for his innovative ideas, achievements, and strong leadership in the CRM market.

In a blog post, Wilson wrote: " It's been so much fun to be a part of this business, to bring a terrific and talented team together, and to help guide Microsoft into a leadership position in the CRM category. As we start 2012, I'm very excited to transition my responsibilities over to Dennis Michalis and to watch him continue to grow and scale the Microsoft Dynamics CRM business.

Michalis comes to Microsoft from a stint as business development lead at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. At this point, he does not have any plans to change the regular functioning of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM team. "The team has a pretty strong course already set, putting out a new release every six months," the spokesperson said. "Dennis is just excited to be there leading the team."

Michalis, who has more than 20 years of management experience, will be responsible for setting the long-term business strategy for the Dynamics product line, aligning customers’ needs with product plans, creating and executing marketing strategy, including product positioning, pricing and packaging, developing channels, and driving revenue.

Before joining Microsoft, he was corporate senior vice president at Infor Global Solutions, where he was responsible for the company's enterprise resource planning (ERP) cloud business. Michalis has also held senior management titles at PRG, an angel fund company for startup and microbusiness ventures in the enterprise technology space; Fujitsu's Glovia International subsidiary, a provider of ERP and supply chain management solutions; and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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