N.Y. district sales director chosen to lead Microsoft in the region

Microsoft Corp. has named Sanket Akerkar general manager of its Mid-Atlantic States District US Enterprise and Partner Group, which is based in Malvern. He succeeds Michael Ferreri, who retired last fall after 15 years with the Redmond, Wash.-based computer giant.

Akerkar oversees sales, marketing and service functions to Microsoft's largest customers in Pennsylvania, South Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. He also is responsible for heading up Microsoft's community relations in the Middle Atlantic States, something he said he is looking forward to doing.

"Being the general manager of Mid-Atlantic, one of the things that is going to be important ... is to make sure that Microsoft continues to invest in the community and that will be an important part of my strategy in the new role," he said.

Akerkar had been sales director of Microsoft Corp.'s New York Metro District. In that job, he managed sales and technical relationships with more than 150 large health-care, manufacturing and professional-services companies in New York and North Jersey.

Akerkar joined Microsoft in 2003 from management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., where he advised software companies on their sales and marketing. He has an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor's degree in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University.

Akerkar has been in his position since July 1. He plans to spend his first 90 days or so meeting with Microsoft's largest customers and partners in the district, as well as its key employees.

"Overall, I think the region's doing very, very well," he said. "We're continuing to grow the business in a very healthy way, year over year. We're continuing to work with some great partners and develop some fantastic solutions for our customers."

Heartiest cogratulations to Sanket Akerkar from MMNY team!