MICROSOFT
Kate Maxwell is the Chief
Technology Officer for
Defense & Intelligence in Microsoft’s
Worldwide Public Sector. Maxwell is
an accomplished technology leader
and strategist with almost 20 years
of experience supporting Defense
& Intelligence customers around
the globe.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Maxwell
held various engineering leadership
roles within Raytheon Technologies,
including Technical Director and Chief
Engineer of multiple product lines.
She was also the Founding Director
of the Raytheon Innovation Center- a global corporate innovation
engine that inspires and empowers
employees to innovate.
Maxwell is a
passionate advocate
for STEM outreach
and diversity, and
she commits her
time to making a
difference through
volunteerism.
EXECUTIVE BIO
KATE MAXWELL
TITLE: CTO
COMPANY/SECTOR: DEFENSE &
INTELLIGENCE FOR MICROSOFT
WORLDWIDE PUBLIC SECTOR
INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGYdo that. And this is an amazing time to be
driving that digital transformation for the
defence community.
“Microsoft is an iconic technology
enterprise; we’ve been around for a long
time, and we’ve been serving defence and
intelligence customers for the better part
of 40 years. In Worldwide Public Sector,
our focus is on delivering world-class
capability and digital transformation to
the international public sector community.
And my team focuses specifically on the
allied defense & intelligence community.
“Microsoft has the largest and most
mature cloud partner ecosystem in the
entire market, which is critical when it
comes to driving innovation. Our job is
to break down the barriers to entry so
independent software vendors can bring
their capabilities to bear for the defence
and intelligence landscape. It’s a huge
part of our value proposition.”
THE DEFENCE LANDSCAPE
When Maxwell discusses the defence
landscape, she is talking about an array of
threats. “This is not meant to be a doom
and gloom story,” she says as she paints a
picture of growing global disorder where
established threats live alongside non-
state actors increasingly armed with
sophisticated tools. Throw in geopolitical
and civil unrest, terrorism, climate change
and public health crises, and it looks
decidedly doomy and gloomy.
“Technology is advancing at a really
incredible pace, and that’s good for
defense agencies, but it’s also good for
their adversaries, because technology is
increasingly capable, available, and in some
cases becoming less expensive by the day.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS),
or drones, are a great example of this.