Irving Kwong

Chief of Staff to the Corporate President of a 2,000+ person global engineering organization, driving all team operations, executive communications, P&L and cross-functional alignment at scale. Support a business that grew from tens of millions to billions in revenue — partnering with leadership on the strategic priorities, org design, and operational discipline that enabled that growth trajectory. Oversee a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars across people, programs, and infrastructure, ensuring financial efficiency and alignment with corporate goals. Lead workforce planning and headcount management across a globally distributed org, optimizing for team performance, retention, and resource allocation. Drive employee engagement, org health, and cross-functional program execution. Partner with HR, Finance, Product, Legal, Marketing, and Sales

Member of the leadership team for Microsoft Azure AI Services — the engineering organization building AI and ML products sold through Azure and embedded across Microsoft’s product portfolio including Office, Teams, Dynamics, Windows and more. Technical Advisor and Chief of Staff to Corporate Vice Presidents leading 350+ person global team of engineers and scientist across multiple locations. As product leader for Cognitive Services, defined product and marketing strategy, directed execution of roadmaps, and drove customer engagement across the full acquisition funnel. Managed a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars spanning people, data acquisition, hardware and labs, cloud storage, and compute infrastructure. Evangelized Azure AI products at industry events, executive customer briefings, and through internal partner channels — building credibility and pipeline for an emerging product category. Drove org priorities, product reviews, rhythm of business, communications, and hiring and retention programs for a globally distributed engineering org.

Created and led the product management and marketing team chartered with productizing incubation technology from Microsoft Research into commercially viable AI products — defining product strategy, business models, target customers, and go-to-market approach from scratch. Launched 25 AI-based Cognitive Services in ~18 months, achieving tens of thousands of monthly active users, generating millions of dollars in Azure revenue, and earning features in Microsoft CEO keynotes at Build, Ignite, and Worldwide Partner Conference. Produced the Seeing AI vision concept video that helped define Microsoft’s public AI narrative — achieved 9M+ YouTube views and trended on Twitter with zero paid media spend. Launched Microsoft Pix, the first AI-powered iOS camera app, from zero to 1M+ users in ~6 months using earned media and highly efficient paid social at under $1 per install — named Time magazine’s 2016 camera app of the year. These early AI products helped shape market perception of Microsoft as an AI-first company, establishing credibility in a category that became central to the company’s growth strategy.

Marketing leader for a portfolio of flagship Microsoft consumer products — Skype, Bing, Internet Explorer, Outlook.com, and OneDrive — responsible for growing market share, reach, and brand perception globally. Managed integrated campaign planning and operations across the full consumer apps and services portfolio, aligning priorities and driving execution cadence across a large cross-functional leadership team. As field marketing leader, set annual priorities, budget allocation, and market strategy; authored field playbooks and scaled effective campaigns into international subsidiaries across priority global markets. Served as interim Chief of Staff to the CVP of Apps & Services Marketing — drove org change management, executive communications, operating budget, headcount management, and monthly business reviews.

Core member of the product management leadership team that launched Microsoft Bing — contributing to market share growth every year across a 6-year tenure spanning the product’s creation through sustained scaling. Held multiple leadership roles across product management, brand development, business planning, market research, and product marketing for both consumers and developers. Owned product management for key Bing properties including Bing.com, Image, Video, Shopping, Travel, APIs, Webmaster Tools, and consumer apps — from value proposition definition through launch and growth. Led integrated marketing campaigns that delivered a 10-point improvement in brand perception and a 20%+ increase in engagement among target US consumers; scaled winning strategies into priority international markets to drive global share growth. Hired, developed, and mentored product management talent — from early-career hires to senior product leaders.

Led the product management team for Hotmail — responsible for value proposition, business management, global marketing, digital campaigns, communications, and field enablement. Successfully led the platform migration of over 350 million customers — one of the largest consumer product migrations in Microsoft’s history at the time. Developed early freemium business model learnings that informed Microsoft’s consumer monetization strategy across the broader apps and services portfolio.

Led product management and customer retention teams for MSN, driving value proposition development, marketing strategy, customer relationship management, and direct and third-party distribution. Launched MSN versions 5 through 9 and MSN Premium — growing the subscriber base to over 9 million through efficient acquisition and retention initiatives. Produced the MSN segment of the annual CES keynote featuring the Microsoft CEO — demonstrating early executive presence and communications leadership at the highest level.

Product manager responsible for product planning, readiness, marketing launch, and public relations for Office Mac, Internet Explorer for Mac, Outlook Express for Mac, and Entourage v1.0. Delivered critical acclaim and strong customer adoption across the Mac product portfolio, establishing Microsoft’s credibility in the Apple ecosystem. Acted as a Microsoft spokesperson alongside Apple executives at Macworld keynotes in San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo — building cross-company partnership visibility at the highest level.