Parallels' New CEO is Former Microsoft Exec Birger Steen
Parallels (a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses, and service providers across all major hardware, operating system, and virtualization platforms) has recently announced that it has a new CEO. Birger Steen, who left Microsoft about half a year ago to join Parallels, has been promoted from company President to Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
It was back in 2002 that Steen joined the Microsoft team as a General Manager in Norway. As the years went by he went on to become General Manager and VP for Microsoft Russia, and later on he became VP of Small and Medium Business and Distribution.
In September 2010, six months ago, Steen left the Microsoft team and joined desktop virtualization vendor Parallels as the company’s president. As President of Parallels, he oversaw sales, marketing, product management and customer support and services. AS CEO he will oversee the company’s strategy and innovation, engineering sales, partner relationships, support, marketing and deployment services, and drive the company’s leadership in Cloud services enablement and desktop virtualization.
"The talent, energy and innovation I see every day at Parallels is inspiring and I’m proud to be a part of such a unique company," said Steen. "I’m laser-focused on serving our customers and enabling our partners to quickly capitalize on the growing opportunities in Cloud services for SMBs worldwide."
"During his six months with Parallels, Birger has proven himself to be an incisive decision-maker and capable leader for all areas of our business," said Parallels founder and outgoing CEO, Serguei Beloussov, will continue his full-time role as Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Architect. "The Board is confident that Birger, with his global experience and proven track record in building and developing strong partner communities, is the right leader at the right time to help Parallels scale and accelerate our worldwide growth plans. He will enable Parallels to be the best partner for service providers at an even larger scale and will lead the successful execution our strategy."
Additional information on Parallels is available here.
It was back in 2002 that Steen joined the Microsoft team as a General Manager in Norway. As the years went by he went on to become General Manager and VP for Microsoft Russia, and later on he became VP of Small and Medium Business and Distribution.
In September 2010, six months ago, Steen left the Microsoft team and joined desktop virtualization vendor Parallels as the company’s president. As President of Parallels, he oversaw sales, marketing, product management and customer support and services. AS CEO he will oversee the company’s strategy and innovation, engineering sales, partner relationships, support, marketing and deployment services, and drive the company’s leadership in Cloud services enablement and desktop virtualization.
"The talent, energy and innovation I see every day at Parallels is inspiring and I’m proud to be a part of such a unique company," said Steen. "I’m laser-focused on serving our customers and enabling our partners to quickly capitalize on the growing opportunities in Cloud services for SMBs worldwide."
"During his six months with Parallels, Birger has proven himself to be an incisive decision-maker and capable leader for all areas of our business," said Parallels founder and outgoing CEO, Serguei Beloussov, will continue his full-time role as Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Architect. "The Board is confident that Birger, with his global experience and proven track record in building and developing strong partner communities, is the right leader at the right time to help Parallels scale and accelerate our worldwide growth plans. He will enable Parallels to be the best partner for service providers at an even larger scale and will lead the successful execution our strategy."
Additional information on Parallels is available here.
