Satya Nadella is not exactly a household name, but he will be today. He received a big time promotion to become the 3rd CEO in Microsoft history. Mr. Nadella was previously Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, where he is credited for bringing many of Microsoft's services and tools to the Azure Cloud.

For sometime there was a rather public courtship from Microsoft with their attempts to hire current CEO of Ford, Alan Mulally, to the position. However, in December Mulally publicly stated his intentions to stay with Ford though 2014. That makes Satya Nadella technically their second, but more logically choice, for the post. Although with Microsft since 1992, Satya Nadella really can't be considered "old guard" and his promotion signals a cohesive move in a new direction.

In a letter to Microsoft employees, Mr. Nadella writes, "Today is a very humbling day for me. It reminds me of my very first day at Microsoft, 22 years ago. Like you, I had a choice about where to come to work. I came here because I believed Microsoft was the best company in the world. I saw then how clearly we empower people to do magical things with our creations and ultimately make the world a better place. I knew there was no better company to join if I wanted to make a difference. This is the very same inspiration that continues to drive me today."

Speaking to the future he continues, "While we have seen great success, we are hungry to do more. Our industry does not respect tradition — it only respects innovation. This is a critical time for the industry and for Microsoft. Make no mistake, we are headed for greater places — as technology evolves and we evolve with and ahead of it. Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world. "

Not exactly earth shattering news, but that one sentence has more vision in it than what the outgoing CEO, Steve Ballmer, has shown since taking over the company in 2000.