News

Neupert Returns to Microsoft for Health Strategy Role

• By Scott Bekker
• 09/06/2005

Neupert will report to Craig Mundie, chief technical officer and senior vice president for Advanced Strategies and Policy. Mundie is one of the handful of Microsoft executives in strategic thinking positions who report directly to chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates. Reporting to Mundie means Neupert is one of the few Microsoft employees who don't report to CEO Steve Ballmer.

The hiring of Neupert comes as Microsoft focuses attention on vertical markets after decades of viewing the market horizontally.

"We are choosing to invest in health now for a variety of reasons," Mundie said in a statement. "Advances in technology hold huge promise for changing people's lives globally -- both those who are sick and those who are well. Peter Neupert brings a mix of business leadership and expertise in the health field to guide Microsoft's work in this area."

Neupert was president and CEO of Drugstore.com from July 1998 to April 2001. He served as chairman of the Drugstore.com board of directors from July 1999 to September 2004. While serving on President Bush's Information Technology Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2005, Neupert was co-chair of the Health Information Technology subcommittee.

His initial stint at Microsoft ran from 1987 to 1998. After being director of operating systems responsible for OS/2, he was vice president of news and publishing, which included MSNBC.