Hauser’s experience in financial services goes back to the days when Microsoft was pushing Windows NT as an enterprise banking solution. It did better in the branches.

Starting in 1997 she was responsible for winning and deploying retail bank branch platforms on Windows NT and establishing Microsoft as a key partner in financial services, said Brian Scott, vice president of worldwide industry for Microsoft. To deepen relationships with the industry, she spearheaded a customer financial services executive advisory board to capture feedback and a process for prioritizing Microsoft’s investments. In 2000, Hauser assumed the role of Financial Services Director for the East Region, where she managed operations and key relationships with important financial services customers across insurance, banking and capital markets.

She drove a number of breakthrough industry solutions such as JP Morgan Chase Internet Banking, the BoNY Rufus project, State Street Fund Broker Project and PrudentialSecurities.com, Scott added.

More recently Hauser played a strategic role on Microsoft’s Law and Corporate Affairs, Intellectual Property Leadership team where she worked on Microsoft’s relationship with Novell and its efforts on interoperability.  She was instrumental role in developing Microsoft’s first Interop Executive Customer Council with 45 worldwide CIO’s across commercial and public sector customers, added Scott.

The worldwide lead in financial services had been David Littlewood, who joined Microsoft from a similar position at arch-rival Sun Microsystems in late 2004. Littlewood left Microsoft after two years. Since then David Vander, the worldwide head of banking for Microsoft, has been acting lead for all of financial services.

Microsoft has interviewed people from other technology companies and from financial services to fill the worlwide role. Members of the financial services team grew frustrated at the delay in filling the top post, saying it raised questions among customers and partners over how serious Microsoft is about the financial industry. Internal reorganizations have rearranged the financial services group several times. Global financial firms such as Barclays and a handful of software partners including SunGard and Fiserv are handled by the worldwide team. At times Microsoft has discussed moving the US financial services group under the worldwide group, but for now the two coexist with the US in control of most of the resources.
Microsoft’s stated policy had been that the worldwide industry leaders had to be located at its corporate headquarters in Redmond to facilitate interaction with the product groups. Since the major market centers are in New York and London, the Redmond location meant that whoever took the job would be traveling much of the time to meet with the company’s financial services teams and with customers. In addition, anyone moving into the post from a financial industry job in New York or London would be cut off from the industry, so it didn’t offer much appeal for someone who might be interested in returning to finance after Microsoft.

That policy has been modified over the years. Microsoft’s worldwide lead for capital markets, Michel van Leeuwen, is in London and its lead for insurance, Don Canning, lives in New Jersey. Hauser, who is widely liked and respected within the company, will work from Microsoft’s New York office.

Filed under: Technology