John W. Thompson, CEO of Virtual Instruments and former CEO of Symantec Corp, is the new chairman of the board of directors for Microsoft, according to news reports.
Thompson was the only African American to head a major tech company when he worked at Symantec. The graduate of Florida A&M and MIT oversaw the company at a time when revenues increased $632 million to $6.2 billion.
He also previously worked as a vice president at IBM.
blackenterprise.com said he invested in tech advances in Silicon Valley and has been named to Black Enterprise’s “100 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America.” He was also named “Corporate Executive of the Year” at Symantec in 2004.
He lives in West Palm Beach, Fla.