Sarah Bond has been appointed as the first black woman president of Microsoft’s Xbox. In her new role, she will also oversee the entire Xbox ecosystem, including Xbox’s hardware and software platforms, according to The Verge.
Also, she will take charge of leading the future of the brand which could potentially “include a redesigned disc-less Xbox Series X next year and a next-gen hybrid console in 2028,” the Verge added.
“To manage the platform of today, and build the platform of tomorrow, we are bringing together the teams that will make this possible,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer explained in a memo obtained by the Verge.
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“Sarah Bond will lead this team as President of Xbox — bringing together Devices, Player & Creator Experiences, Platform Engineering, Strategy, Business Planning, Data & Analytics and Business Development.”
Prior to her current promotion, Bond was the Corporate Vice President, Game Creator Experience and Ecosystem at Microsoft. As part of her role, she led the Xbox division dedicated to building and commercializing products and services for game creators and partners, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Bond was also instrumental in the growth of Xbox and foundational to the success of Xbox Game Pass as the then CVP of Global Gaming Partnerships and Development. According to her LinkedIn profile, she led the development of strategic partner relationships that advanced the expansion of Xbox Game Studios and was core to establishing the product portfolio in support of Project xCloud.
Before joining Microsoft in 2017, she held various senior positions at T-Mobile. She led the Corporate Strategy and Development team; she was responsible for cross-functional strategic initiatives, major investments, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions, and was a member of the team that led T-Mobile’s turnaround.
According to The Verge, Bond has been a rising star since joining Xbox. She has been credited for her behind-the-scenes role in the recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard. She even appeared during the FTC v. Microsoft hearing to explain video games and the Xbox business to Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, the platform added.
With a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Bond started her career at McKinsey, where she was an Associate Partner in the Seattle office.
