Microsoft Federal sees leadership change

Microsoft Corp.’s federal arm has new leadership, after its former president, Rick Wagner, left the company to pursue “new opportunities.”

Wagner had run Microsoft Federal, now based in Rosslyn, since 2020. Candice Ling announced in a LinkedIn post this week that she had accepted his former job. Microsoft’s federal team works with the civilian and defense sectors on a variety of projects, and is part of the team on the Pentagon’s $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability Contract to build out cloud capabilities for the Department of Defense.

“Rick Wagner, president, Microsoft Federal, has decided to leave the company to pursue new opportunities,” a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Virginia Business in an email Wednesday, adding that his departure was announced last week. “We are deeply grateful for his leadership and contributions to the company and wish him all the best in the future.”

Ling served as the federal sector’s civilian vice president since October 2021 and previously spent 19 years with Canadian consulting firm CGI Inc., most recently as a senior vice president in Fairfax. She joined Microsoft as a government industry leader in Asia in 2018.

Ling wrote in her LinkedIn post that she wants “to champion a public-private centered strategy, fostering co-innovation and accelerating time-to-mission. We are also dedicated to and laser-focused on accelerating AI adoption in support of your mission.” She went on to say she is “committed to fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation and inclusivity while supporting each and every one of you to achieve your goals.”

Breaking Defense, a defense industry trade publication, reported that Wagner’s departure marks the third senior-level Microsoft executive with ties to the industry to leave in the last year. Toni Townes-Whitley, who stepped down as Microsoft’s president of U.S. regulated industries in September 2022, will become the new CEO of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in October, succeeding Nazzic S. Keene.

In her LinkedIn post, Ling also announced that Heidi Kobylski will take over her previous role. Kobylski has spent more than 13 years at Microsoft, including as general manager of the federal civilian unit.