Dive Brief:

• Zoom Video Communications appointed Microsoft veteran Michelle Chang to its CFO seat, effective Oct. 7, the company announced Tuesday. She will succeed Kelly Steckelberg, who notified the company in August of her plan to step down from the finance chief role after seven years, though she will stay on through Oct. 31 in an advisory capacity, CFO Dive previously reported.
• Chang, a one-time intern at Microsoft, has climbed the ladder since joining the company in 2000 to hold multiple senior financial roles, according to her LinkedIn profile. Most recently she was corporate vice president and CFO of Microsoft’s Commercial Sales & Partner Organization, and her previous titles included corporate vice president and CFO of Modern Workplace (including Office and Teams) and cyber security, among others, Zoom said in the release. 
• The San Jose, California-based video conference provider said Chang will oversee its financial strategy and report directly to CEO Eric Yuan. “We are thrilled to welcome Michelle to Zoom as we continue to drive innovation, growth and value creation across our platform, especially as we advance our Zoom 2.0 vision and AI-first work platform strategy,” said Yuan, calling Chang a “results and values-driven” leader with a record of implementing growth initiatives.  

Dive Insight:

While Zoom’s newly-minted finance chief brings deep Silicon Valley experience from her decades working at Microsoft, Chang, 50, took a relatively traditional path to her new role. She holds a B.A. in Business-Accounting from the University of Washington and went on to spend about four years in consulting and audit at Arthur Andersen.  

At Zoom, Chang’s compensation will include a base salary of $580,000 and a target annual bonus equal to 90% of that, prorated for fiscal 2025, according to securities filing. She will also be provided an initial grant of restricted stock units with a target value of $23.6 million, which will vest over a four-year period. 

In the last fiscal year ended Jan. 31 2024, Chang’s predecessor Steckelberg’s compensation totaled $13.39 million, comprised largely of $12.9 million in stock awards, 5.8 million in “other” pay, and a $361,385 base salary, according to the company’s May 2 proxy filing.   

According to the terms of a Sept. 25 offer letter from Yuan to Chang included in Tuesday’s securities filing, Chang will be allowed to work remotely from her “personal residence” in the state of Washington and the Zoom offices in Seattle, Washington or the surrounding area. But Zoom may at times also “reasonably require you to perform your duties at Zoom’s offices and other locations other than your personal residence or the Seattle Office,” the filing states. 

In the early days of the pandemic, Zoom capitalized on the demand from businesses and others for video conferencing and other new technologies allowing people to connect virtually. But last year the company joined a growing push for in-person work, asking employees within 50 miles of an office to work in person part-time, The New York Times reported Aug. 7, 2023. 

Zoom did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its current policy on remote work.