Craig Mundie
Chief Research and Strategy Officer
Microsoft
Craig Mundie is chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft Corp., reporting to CEO Steve Ballmer. In this role, he oversees one of the world's largest computer-science research organizations, and is responsible for Microsoft's long-term technology strategy. Mundie also directs the company's fast-growing healthcare-solutions business, along with a number of technology incubations. He routinely works with government and business leaders around the world on technology policy, regulation and standards.
Mundie has spent much of his career building startups in various fields, including supercomputing, consumer electronics, healthcare, education and robotics. He joined Microsoft in 1992 to create and run the Consumer Platforms Division, which developed non-PC platforms such as the Windows CE operating system; software for the Handheld PC, Pocket PC and Auto PC; and early console-gaming products. Mundie also started Microsoft's digital-TV efforts, acquiring and managing its WebTV Networks subsidiary.
Before his current role, Mundie served as Microsoft's chief technical officer for advanced strategies and policy, working with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to develop the company's global strategies around technical, business and policy issues. Another long-standing focus for Mundie is privacy, security and cyber-security. He initiated Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative, which has leveraged new software-development practices to significantly improve the security of the company's products.
For more than a decade, Mundie has also served as Microsoft's principal technology-policy liaison to the U.S. and foreign governments, with an emphasis on China, India and Russia. He serves on the U.S. National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and the Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and in April 2009 was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Mundie started his career in 1970, working on operating-system development for the Data General NOVA at Systems Equipment Corp. (SEC) while still studying at Georgia Tech. SEC was subsequently acquired by Data General Corp., where Mundie went on to develop the INFOS data-management system. In 1977 Mundie moved to Data General's advanced development facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C., ultimately becoming its director. In 1982, Mundie was one of three co-founders of Alliant Computer Systems Corp., which developed vector-parallel mini-supercomputers. He held a variety of positions at Alliant before becoming CEO. The company shut down in 1992.
Mundie holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's degree in information theory and computer science from Georgia Tech. Mundie enjoys traveling and spending time on his boat. He is married, with one married daughter.
Recent Events and Presentations
Digital Quality of Life: Understanding the Benefits of the IT Revolution
While new gadgets like the iPhone and the ever-shrinking iPod still elicit amazement and appreciation among the general public, most do not recognize the true impact that the IT revolution has had and continues to have on our daily lives. In 2007, Rob Atkinson and Andrew McKay documented in the report Digital Prosperity: Understanding the Economic Benefits of the Information Technology Revolution how IT, since the mid-1990s, has been the principal driver of increased economic growth not only in the United States but also in many other nations. However, IT is also at the core of dramatic improvements in the quality of life for individuals around the world. In a new report from ITIF, Digital Quality of Life: Understanding the Personal and Social Benefits of the IT Revolution, Rob Atkinson and I show how IT is the key enabler of many, if not most, of today’s key innovations and improvements in our lives and society, from better education and health care, to a cleaner and more energy-efficient environment, to safer and more secure communities and nations. With input from experts across multiple disciplines, we compiled a representative, though by no means exhaustive, sampling of the various ways IT is helping to reshape our world. Whether it is from faster processors, more storage or faster networks or the growth of technologies like GPS, RFID or wireless sensors, we are crossing a threshold where IT is making the world come alive with information. Throughout the 17 chapters of the report, we cover a variety of subjects including education, health care, public safety, personal safety, transportation, energy, the environment, accessibility for individuals with disabilities, communities, government and the development world. Over the course of writing this report, we came to at least one clear and convincing conclusion: IT matters...a lot.
