Microsoft appoints John W Thompson as board member

Microsoft Corporation has appointed John W Thompson to its board, making the company's board's size to 10 members.

Thompson currently serves as CEO of Virtual Instruments, a privately held company dealing in cloud solutions. Prior to this he served as chairman and CEO of Symantec, for a timespan of 10 years.

He has also held various leading positions at IBM, including sales, marketing, software development and general manager of IBM Americas. He was also a member of IBM's worldwide management council.

''John brings a wealth of experience, from enterprise customers to individual consumers, as well as the insights that come from running a successful large global software company and a fast-emerging startup. He will be a great addition to our board,'' said Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft.

''John has extraordinary technology and business expertise, and we are delighted that he is joining Microsoft's board of directors,'' said Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman.

Thompson did his bachelors in business administration from Florida A&M, and a master's degree in management from the MIT Sloan School of management.