Microsoft announced Oct. 1 that Office and Teams leader Ryan Roslansky will leave the company, remaining as an adviser to CEO Satya Nadella through the end of 2026 while new reporting lines take effect immediately.
The departure comes as Microsoft pulls Office and Teams more closely into its Copilot organization and pushes Copilot as an “OS for work.” For Microsoft partners, the reshuffle puts productivity apps, collaboration tools, agents, and Copilot under a more closely connected leadership structure as the company works to make AI part of everyday Microsoft 365 workflows.
Office and Teams move deeper into Microsoft’s Copilot organization
Microsoft said Roslansky will remain through the end of the calendar year as an adviser to CEO Satya Nadella and help with the transition. Roslansky had led LinkedIn before taking on responsibility for Office in 2025 and Teams earlier this year.
Under the new structure, Sumit Chauhan and Lan Ye will report to Charles Lamanna, while chief design officer Jon Friedman will report to Jacob Andreou. Dan Shapero will remain CEO of LinkedIn, and Mohak Shroff will continue in his role, with both reporting directly to Nadella.
The Verge reported that the Office and Teams organizations are moving under Lamanna as part of Microsoft’s Copilot, Agents, and Platform organization. The shift follows another major change earlier this year when former Experiences and Devices chief Rajesh Jha retired.
| Executive | Role after the reshuffle |
| Charles Lamanna | Receives Office and Teams leaders Sumit Chauhan and Lan Ye |
| Jacob Andreou | Jon Friedman will report to him |
| Dan Shapero | Continues as LinkedIn CEO, reporting to Nadella |
| Ryan Roslansky | Remains an adviser through the end of 2026 |
Microsoft ties the reshuffle to its Copilot push
Microsoft tied the leadership changes directly to its Copilot strategy. Nadella said the company is building a new “OS for work,” with Office “fully embedded in Copilot and vice versa.”
Roslansky said his work over the past year centered on bringing Microsoft 365 and Copilot together as one ecosystem. His exit comes shortly after Microsoft introduced its latest Copilot strategy, which the company has described as an “OS for work” spanning models, devices, and tasks.
For channel partners, closer alignment between Microsoft 365 and Copilot could mean product roadmaps increasingly arrive as connected AI, productivity, and agent offerings rather than separate Office, Teams, and Copilot initiatives. Microsoft has not announced changes to partner programs, licensing, or incentives as part of the leadership transition.
Roslansky cites family ties to the Bay Area
Roslansky said leaving Microsoft was a difficult decision, but he believed leading the next phase would require being at the company’s Redmond headquarters full time. His family remains in the San Francisco Bay Area.
His departure also joins several other senior leadership changes at Microsoft this year. CNBC noted that gaming chief Phil Spencer and Office leader Rajesh Jha have also left, while security executive Charlie Bell moved into an individual contributor role as Microsoft continues reorganizing around generative AI.
Roslansky leaves after nearly 18 years across LinkedIn and Microsoft. During his six years as LinkedIn CEO, the platform grew from roughly 700 million members to 1.3 billion before he moved deeper into Microsoft’s productivity and AI strategy.
What Microsoft partners should watch next
For partners, nothing changes yet on pricing, licensing, or channel requirements. What has changed is where Office and Teams now sit inside Microsoft.
Moving both products under the Copilot, Agents, and Platform organization brings them closer to the teams building Copilot and AI agents. That could lead to more tightly connected Microsoft 365 updates, with Office, Teams, Copilot, and agents developed as part of the same product strategy.
For resellers, MSPs, and integrators, the practical next step is to track Microsoft’s product roadmap and Partner Center announcements for confirmed deployment, packaging, and commercial changes before revising customer proposals.
For a closer look at what Microsoft’s Copilot strategy means for the channel, read how the latest push is opening new CSP opportunities across AI deployment, managed services, governance, and FinOps.