Courtois, known by his initials JPC, is an executive vice president and president of Microsoft global sales, marketing and operations. He heads up Microsoft’s commercial business across Microsoft’s many subsidiaries. He joined Microsoft as a channel sales representative in 1984, before the company’s 1986 initial public offering, and in 1994 he became general manager of Microsoft France. In the early 2000s he was CEO of Microsoft’s Europe, Middle East and Africa branch, then became president of Microsoft’s international business until July 2016, when Kevin Turner left. Then he became executive vice president and president for global sales, marketing and operations. Courtois received $15.1 million in total compensation in the 2019 fiscal year. Microsoft board members gave him kudos for having a “customer-obsessed” approach and pushing for more conversations about diversity and inclusion in the most recent fiscal year.