Amy Hood is an American businesswoman, who is the current Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the global technology corporation, Microsoft. Hood was born on August 9, 1971, in Nashville, Tennessee to a family of educators. As a child, she took the responsibility of doing chores around her home. Her chores consisted of taking care of her animals or helping in the kitchen. Therefore, from an early age, Hood was always passionate about achieving her goals. She tried new hobbies which assisted her in choosing her field of interest. Hood always wanted to strive for her best in all her tasks to get the best outcome. She attended Duke University, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1994. Later, in 1999, she received a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University. By earning this degree, Hood deepened her leadership skills and learned about the importance of taking initiative when pursuing a goal. She was able to expand her leadership skills by partaking in courses and leading team-building projects. After several jobs, she joined Microsoft Corporation in 2002 and has since played a prominent role in advancing the technology company.
Although Hood is known best for her achievements at Microsoft, her success initially began at Goldman Sachs & Company, an investment banking company. During her time at Goldman Sachs, Hood gained experience from senior leaders, who gave her the motivation she needed to further her career. Additionally, she obtained different positions as a business executive working in investment firms, banking, and capital markets. Primarily working with the company’s investment firms, she gained job experience to help her advance her career and the operations and systems within Goldman Sachs. During her time at the company, she picked up the skill to practice “positive self-talk.” While maintaining a productive work life, she encourages many individuals to practice “positive self-talk,” which helps to discard any stress or work demands. She adopted this mindset, and now encourages people around her to practice “positive self-talk” to minimize the stress of work demands. Thus, Hood has been able to lighten an individual's mood and encourage others to do things that they genuinely enjoy. For instance, she tells her co-workers that when they complete activities they have an interest in, they can reduce their work stress levels.
Following Goldman Sachs, Hood applied and received a role at Microsoft, where she was the Leader of Microsoft’s Business division. She used various software applications and services in her projects, such as Microsoft’s Excel, Project, and Teams, helping her to familiarize herself with the diverse tools. Hood’s skills and qualities of patience and determination led her to become the very first female Executive Vice President and CFO at Microsoft, replacing Peter Klein in 2013. Her responsibilities include managing the company’s global real estate, treasury, accounts, reports, and acquisitions. Since Hood joined Microsoft, her strategies helped to improve the company’s stock values. Specifically, the company saw a dramatic increase of approximately three hundred percent.
In 2016, Hood played an important role when Microsoft rebranded from Office 365 to Dynamics 365. Office 365 focused on product control reporting to Dynamics which now focuses on customer-centric reporting. Customer-centric reporting requires common data and access and Hood’s contributions to Dynamics allow her to understand the entire hierarchy of a company to the customer. From account management to sales engagement, Hood's innovative idea was to approach the process holistically. Furthermore, Dynamics 365 positively changes predicted outcomes and assists decision-makers and customers more skillfully than Office 365. She was heavily involved in the strategy, marketing, planning, implementation, and development processes during this major shift. Hood’s crucial contributions to the new power platform displayed her ethic and skillfulness, confirming her high position at Microsoft.
A few years after the Microsoft rebrand, in 2017, Hood was elected to represent 3M’s, a multinational conglomerate company, Board of Directors representing governance. This board is the primary part of investor relations, which plays a key role in business and marketing. Hood recounts that, when she first took a higher-level position managing Microsoft’s two-thousand-person financial group, she had spent countless hours listening to the feedback of her team. At the panel, Hood explained that listening to her peers enabled her to build confidence and understand her business strategies and relations. She remembers her first speech and talks with her group, “Listening to them gave me confidence that I did understand the issues that needed to be addressed, even if I felt maybe like I wasn’t close enough to all of them.” She states that after those talks, her confidence level just kept on increasing. By taking career risks, she built self-independence, and the courage to tackle management and business situations in the workplace.
Hood’s heavy involvement in Microsoft's operations has allowed for the strategic acquisition of assets from Github and Linkedin, helping the company’s outreach and business team. With Hood’s assets, the company has gained strategic partners and relations with the two companies for future projects. Following her accomplishments and successes within Microsoft, Hood has received many awards and honors for her recognition in the business administration field. She received a title in Forber’s Magazine, “Youngest Power Women: 14 under 45 in the year 2014. In the same year, Hood was ranked Number 8 on Business Insider’s “Wealthiest Women in the Technology Industry.” Among other titles in journals and magazines, Hood was named the Winner of the “Puget Sound Business Journal’s 2016 CFO of the Year Award for a Public Company.” This great achievement helped Hood’s reputation immensely.
Amy Hood has profoundly impacted Microsoft’s operations and marketing strategies and will continue to shape how many individuals view the modern world. Today, Hood continues to motivate many individuals, showing that anything is possible with dedication and effort.
Amy Hood married Max Kleinman and they currently own a small stake (a financial share) in a soccer league known as “Seattle Sounders FC.” Hood still reminds others to pursue their passions and aspirations with “positive-self talk”. Today, Hood remains a prominent woman who has remarkably changed the vision of marketing and business fields.
Why Did I Choose to Research Amy Hood?
I chose Amy Hood to research because I believe that her accomplishments and aspirations are very impressive. Further, through my research findings, I hope that many can explore more about Amy Hood’s impact on the technology world through her business and leadership skills. Hood’s passion, inspiration, motivation, and her philosophy for accomplishing one’s goals has tremendously impacted her work ethic. Finally, I hope to display that Hood’s contributions to society will have a long-lasting impact that has benefited many on a global scale.
Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/profile/amy-hood/?sh=48ff93863e21
Amy Hood Biography for Kids. (2021, June 12). Lottie Dolls. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.lottie.com/blogs/strong-women/amy-hood-biography-for-kids
Amy Hood – Career Perspective. (2022, February 2). The Woment is now. Retrieved December https://thewoment.org/amy-hood-career-perspective/
Amy Hood Net Worth, Biography & Insider Trading History. (2022, February 8). InsiderTrades.com. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.insidertrades.com/microsoft-co-stock/amy-hood/
Amy Hood - Stories. (n.d.). Microsoft News. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://news.microsoft.com/exec/amy-hood/
Fortuna, N. (2022, April 1). Barron's 100 Most Influential Women in US Finance: Amy Hood. Barron's. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.barrons.com/articles/barrons-100-most-influential-women-in-u-s-finance-amy-hood-51648800002
Microsoft Dynamics 365 (Writer). (n.d.). Alysa Taylor interviews Microsoft's CFO Amy Hood about Dynamics 365 [TV series episode]. https://www.dynaworx.co.za/post/video-alysa-taylor-interviews-microsoft-s-cfo-amy-hood-about-dynamics-365
Soper, T. (2016, June 8). Advice for leaders from Microsoft CFO Amy Hood: 'Every risk I took built confidence'. GeekWire. Retrieved November 19, 2022, from https://www.geekwire.com/2016/advice-leaders-microsoft-cfo-amy-hood-every-risk-took-built-confidence/
This article was published on 2/2/24