F5 announced the appointment of James Phillips, president, digital transformation platform group at Microsoft, to its board of directors, sitting on F5’s nominating and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) committee.
“James’ deep technology and software expertise and his visibility into digital transformation trends on a global scale will bring valuable insights and perspectives for F5 and our board,” said Alan Higginson, chairman of the board of F5. “James also brings significant leadership, integration, and capital markets experience to the board, all valuable competencies as we continue to grow and scale F5.”
In his current role, Phillips leads a team that builds and operates Microsoft’s business applications and services, together with the application, integration, data and intelligence platforms beneath them. His product portfolio includes Dynamics 365 as well as the Power, Azure AI, Azure Data, and the Azure IoT platforms.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Phillips co-founded and served as CEO of multiple software companies; held engineering, product management, corporate development, and marketing leadership roles at Intel, VMware, and Synopsys. He also spent two years as a technology investment banker with UBS PaineWebber, advising public and private software companies on M&A strategy and execution.
F5’s board is committed to adding strong new voices through transformation. With Phillips’ appointment, F5’s diverse board now expands to 11 members.