Wes Anderson

Vice President, Microsoft Federal, Defense Business Unit

In 2021, Wes Anderson began leading the newly formed Microsoft Federal Defense Business Unit, which is focused on accelerating the Defense Department’s transformation through the use of Microsoft technology. 

Anderson focused largely last year on leading Microsoft Federal’s customer success organization. He and his team helped over 1 million DOD employees onboard to the Commercial Virtual Remote work environment and transition to their new Office 365, IL-5 environments.

The team also built the infrastructure to support COVID-19 vaccine distribution and attestation and supported the launch of the industry-leading Azure Secret Cloud to enable federal government customers’ mission success.  

“With 24 years at Microsoft, Wes exemplifies leadership and is very well respected across our entire organization by his colleagues,” said Rick Wagner, corporate vice president of Microsoft Federal. “I am extremely proud to have him as part of our leadership team and spearheading our defense business group, which is a key part of our ongoing growth and success.”

Why Watch

In 2022, Anderson and his team will continue building on decades of working with DOD to support its mission by delivering solutions and services in the cloud, at the edge and enabled with AI. They will focus on bringing rapid commercial innovation to advance DOD’s progress in meeting its JADC2 goals and adoption of Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability.  

The team will also work to improve the security of DOD and advance its data and AI ambitions while meeting the new reality of hybrid and remote work environments. Anderson will continue driving an industry-leading culture based on a growth mindset that fosters an inclusive environment and enables innovation across the organization. 

“It’s a privilege to lead this team and serve our nation’s warfighters,” he said.

Read the entire Top 35 Execs to Watch in 2022 here.