Sharad Mehrotra

Sharad Mehrotra leads Technology Innovation Portfolio and Strategy within Microsoft’s Azure Hardware Systems and Architecture group. His team is responsible for driving research, strategy, and incubation of hardware-related innovation across the Microsoft Cloud through end-to-end technology development, startup and venture capital ecosystem engagement, and management of Azure’s hardware innovation portfolio.

Sharad is an experienced technology executive and entrepreneur who has alternated between leadership roles at both large companies and startups over multiple decades. Before joining Microsoft in April 2022, Sharad served as Chief Product Officer at Platina Systems Corporation, a start-up focused on the edge and private clouds. Prior to that, he was the Founder and CEO of Saratoga Speed, Inc., an all-flash storage start-up he incubated within Sanmina Corporation in 2012. Before forming Saratoga Speed, Inc., Sharad served as VP in the Office of Strategy and Technology for Hewlett Packard, where he provided 360 leadership for HP’s multi-billion-dollar strategic relationships with AMD and ARM Holdings, Inc. And before HP, Sharad was the principal founder and CEO of two “big idea” start-ups: Procket Networks, Inc., which competed with Cisco and Juniper in Internet core routers (1999); and Fabric7 Systems, Inc., which competed with IBM, HP, Sun, and Dell in converged network and computing infrastructure (2002). Earlier in his career, Sharad was a processor architect with Sun Microsystems and an ASIC designer with Silicon Systems, Inc.

Sharad’s four degrees include a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and prior degrees in Electrical Engineering. He also has 30+ patents granted for his technical work over the years.