Stay ConnectedBeyond the Blue Badge – by the Microsoft Alumni Network
Microsoft Stories that Inform and Inspire
This podcast features alumni who are leaders in business, careers and philanthropy as they talk about lessons learned, overcoming obstacles, finding their bliss and thriving post-Microsoft.
Copyright: © 2019
Dianne Calvi is president and CEO of Village Enterprise, a nonprofit working in sub–Saharan Africa that aims to alleviate poverty through entrepreneurship and innovation. Dianne worked across multiple sectors — including an 11-year stint at Microsoft — before joining Village Enterprise in 2010. In this episode of our Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, host Paul Shoemaker talks with Dianne about how she's scaling Village Enterprise and why she's rooted in empathy. They also dive into how tech, data, and partnerships are crucial in the fight to alleviate poverty.
In this episode of Beyond the Blue Badge, host T.A. McCann talks with his former Microsoft colleague, Terry Myerson. Terry is the CEO of Truveta, a new health tech startup that's building a data platform to better study U.S. health using de-identified patient data. Terry was an executive vice president at Microsoft for more than 21 years before joining Madrona Venture Group and The Carlyle Group and subsequently launching Truveta. He also is part of the Seattle Sounders FC ownership group. In this episode, Terry dishes on his time at Microsoft, the opportunities that followed, utilizing his connections to soar, and how his new mission is using data to save lives.
In this episode of our Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, host Rich Kaplan sits down with alum Robbie Bach — former Xbox chief and president of entertainment and devices. As the 20th anniversary of Xbox approaches, Robbie reminisces on the early trials and triumphs of the industry-changing product. He also reflects on his early days at Microsoft, lessons learned in different product groups, and what he's been doing following his 22-year career at the company.
Charles Stevens spent 22 years at Microsoft as a corporate vice president from 1984 to 2006. Now, he's focused on what he calls "giving forward." Charles sits on the boards of multiple nonprofits including Seattle Children's and United Way of King County. In this episode of our Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, host Eddie Pate — who was hired by Charles at Microsoft — talks with his former colleague about leading diversity initiatives, lessons learned over the past two decades, and the systemic racism that guides many sectors in the U.S. including business, education, and healthcare.
Microsoft alum Njideka Harry is founder and executive board member at Youth for Technology Foundation. Njideka is a social entrepreneur that experienced the "Digital Canyon" first-hand when she moved from her native Nigeria to the U.S. for university. In this episode of our Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, host Paul Shoemaker talks with Njideka about her personal journey to start and grow YTF, Microsoft's influence, and why she's passionate about ensuring technology training and lifelong learning skills are available to all communities in sustainable and accessible ways.
Dr, Kai-Fu Lee helped establish Microsoft China and Microsoft Research China before moving on to do the same for Google. He now is the CEO of Sinovation Ventures and he's invested in more than 350 different companies in China. He's literally written the book on AI and innovation. In this episode of Beyond the Blue Badge, he speaks with podcast host T.A. McCann about the differences between entrepreneurs in China and the U.S., innovations in health tech, the many companies in China that are led by Microsoft alumni.
Orlando Ayala retired from Microsoft in 2016 after 25 years in a number of leadership roles, including overseeing 40,000 people in 115 subsidiaries around the world to working directly with Bill Gates on his senior leadership team as Worldwide Sales Marketing and Services Group's executive vice president. But retirement didn't mean slowing down. In this episode of Beyond the Blue Badge, Orlando talks with host Rick Kaplan about his Microsoft days and how he's using his knowledge of tech and his position on company boards to disrupt and transform the healthcare and energy industries.
Microsoft alum S. Revi Sterling heads the U.S. Agency for International Development Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative's WomenConnect Challenge. What that means is that she gets to put her passion for eliminating the digital gender divide to work every day in places around the world. In this episode of our Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, host Eddie Pate will talk with Revi about her time at Microsoft, how the seed for what she's doing today was planted there, and the impact she's having from a socioeconomic, cultural, policy and financial-inclusion perspective.
When Jon Browning looks back at his 24-years at Microsoft, he thinks about the mentors who helped him along his career path from first installing telephones fresh out of college to eventually becoming a director at the tech giant. When he left the company, he knew that there are so many people who don't have anyone help them bridge between the academic world and the professional workforce. He founded Global Mentorship Initiative to change all of that. In this episode of Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, host Paul Shoemaker talks with Jon about Global Mentorship Initiative, helping underserved students bridge that gap, and matching mentors with hundreds of individuals from around the world, including refugees from Chad, South Sudan, Syria and Palestine. They also talk about how you can help.
Building and managing a fast-growing company with more than $1B valuation Outreach.io is one the rare "unicorn" startups with more than $1B in valuation, and Microsoft alum Manny Medina is at the helm. Manny talks with T.A. McCann about fundraising, how his Microsoft experience helps, and advice to fellow entrepreneurs in the second part of this two-part episode of our Beyond the Blue Badge podcast.
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