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"Microsoft's\u00A0Corporate Vice President of the Data Platform Group Ted Kummert\u00A0has left the firm he joined in 1989 for the\u00A0Madrona Venture Group, where he will work as a venture capitalist.\r\n\r\nMadrona Ventures, a Seattle-based VC firm is a natural fit for Kummert, given its investments into firms such as Tier 3, and Context Relevant, the latter of which works with analytics and big data.\u00A0Kummert's roles at Microsoft included working on\u00A0Windows Azure Data Services, and other key data projects that had him at the center of Microsoft's evolving push into the cloud.\r\n\r\nAccording to the\u00A0official\u00A0release, Kummert will both assist Madrona in finding new companies to invest in, and also the\u00A0management\u00A0of firms already in its portfolio.\u00A0Citing the rising profile of Software as a Service products, the cloud, and &amp;quot;data analytics,&amp;quot; Madrona cast Kummert as a key hire.\r\n\r\nAs GeekWire noted this morning, Madrona has been on something of a streak in the last year, raising a $300 million venture fund. That cash, its largest raise to date, puts a strong onus on the VC group to perform. New talent is perhaps a simple way to ensure that the firm has enough intellectual bandwidth to process deal flow to match its fund size.\r\n\r\nThe obvious losing party in this is Microsoft, as Kummert will help in the funding of Seattle-based companies that will compete with it for talent, and it likely isn't too happy to lose one of its vice presidents, most especially in this area where it is investing so heavily. For the growing startup scene in Seattle, a hardy bunch, however, this is something of a coup.\r\n\r\nTNW has learned that Satya Nadella, current head of the Server and Tools business division at Microsoft will take over Kummert's role, managing the\u00A0Data Platform Group directly. It's not particuarly uncommon for this sort of arrangemtn to exist while the proper replacement is decided upon, and installed.\r\n\r\nMicrosoft declined to provide TNW with a comment on the\u00A0announcement.\r\n\r\nTop Image Credit:\u00A0Bryce Edwards"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/05/microsofts-data-platform-group-boss-ted-kummert-has-left-the-firm-after-23-years-for-madrona-ventures/>