Microsoft Taps Former Disney, GM Exec As New CIO

cryptically attributing it to a 'violation of company rules'

Scott, 56, comes to Microsoft from the Walt Disney, where he served as senior vice president and CIO. Scott will assume his new role at Microsoft next month and will report to COO Kevin Turner.

As CIO at Microsoft, Scott will oversee an IT staff that oversees security, infrastructure, messaging and business applications and supports Microsoft product groups, corporate business groups, and the global sales and marketing organization.

In a statement, Turner said Scott was chosen because of his "deep experience in running global IT organizations."

As the first CIO in Disney's history to manage companywide IT operations, Scott focused on improving the reliability of the company's information systems and data center infrastructure.

In a career spanning more than 25 years, Scott has also held the positions of chief technology officer at General Motors and vice president of operations at Bristol-Meyers Squibb.

In a 2003 interview with VARBusiness, Scott discussed his work at GM, which included working with EDS and IBM Global Services on projects that helped shrink GM's product development window from 48 months to 18 months.