STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Microsoft made a few major announcements to its Scandinavian offices in Sweden during the start of the week. The Tech giant announced that it has purchased land in the Gävle och Sandviken region to expand its offices in Sweden. Microsoft currently employees around 600 people and has office space in Stockholm, Göteborg and Linköping.

It has also revealed that Hélène Barnekow with become the new VD in Sweden. Barnekow, carries 25 years of experience from IT and Telecommunications, including her latest position as Vd at Telia Sverige. She will will begin her new role on December 17, 2018.

“Hélène has a great passion for and solid experience of digital transformation, as well as a unique ability to create strong teams that can take business and our clients and partners’ successes to new heights. It feels like a perfect match and is incredibly pleasing to welcome her to Microsoft,”said Vahé Torossian, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Western Europe.

Prior to Telia, Hélène Barnekow was Head of Field & Partner Marketing at EMC in Boston, USA, where she was awarded several awards for her excellent results in leadership and marketing. Prior to that, she worked in different leadership roles on Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. Hélène sits on the board of GN Store Nord A / S and Kindred Group plc.

“It is a great honor to have the opportunity to lead Microsoft’s Swedish operations, which is on an incredibly exciting journey with a strong momentum in exciting techniques such as artificial intelligence, mixed reality and cloud services, which are becoming increasingly common in Sweden. I look forward to contributing to a company with a strong focus on building trust in technology and value for its customers and society through innovation and a strong value-driven culture with the customer at the center, “says Hélène Barnekow.

Hélène succeeds Joacim Damgard, who recently went on to Microsoft as a Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Operations for Microsoft in Central and Eastern Europe.

Very excited – and humbled- to join an amazing journey and the great @MicrosoftSE team. And very boosted by my amazing #twitter community and all the boosts yesterday. Thank you- you made my day 🙏❤ https://t.co/lsUdlKfuxp

— Helene Barnekow (@HBarnekow) 11 december 2018