Yahoo just named Microsoft veteran Blake Irving as its new chief product officer. Irving fills the void left by Ari Balogh, Yahoo’s CTO and EVP of products, who said earlier this
month that he was leaving for “personal reasons.� During his time at Microsoft, Irving led the back-end development of its Windows Live platform. Irving
“retired� three years ago -- shortly before a major reorganization of Microsoft’s online operations, according to
paidContent. More recently, he serves as a professor at Pepperdine’s business
school. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said she liked Irving’s “large scale internet expertise from a mature company.� Among other responsibilities at
Yahoo, Irving will focus on “speeding key inputs and decision making into product strategy and direction.�
