# Ross Kennedy

> Ross Kennedy is the Global Vice President of AI Startups & Emerging Growth at Microsoft, based in New York. With two decades of experience scaling technology organizations from startup to hyperscale, he leads Microsoft's efforts to help AI startups innovate, grow, and become market makers. Before Microsoft, he was a key force behind Google Cloud's expansion from $5.8B to over $30B in revenue, leading the global Strategic Deal Pursuit division for four years. Earlier, he scaled Liferay's international operations from 200 to 900 employees across 30+ countries. His guiding philosophy: culture beats strategy.

- **Role:** Global Vice President, AI Startups & Emerging Growth at Microsoft
- **Organizations:** Microsoft, Google Cloud, Liferay
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Master of Science in Law (MSL), Northwestern University School of Law (Pritzker School of Law)
- **Known for:** Contributed to Google Cloud's revenue growth from $5.8B to over $30B during four-year tenure leading global deal pursuit, Scaled Liferay's workforce from 200 to 900 employees and expanded operations to 97 countries, Speaker at Microsoft Build 2024

## Career timeline

- **2024-present** — Global Vice President, AI Startups & Emerging Growth at Microsoft, New York - leading Microsoft's push to partner with and scale AI-native startups globally
- **2023-2024** — Vice President, Digital Natives / Scaling AI at Microsoft - initial Microsoft role focused on cloud-first and AI-native company segments
- **2019-2023** — Global Director of Strategic Deal Pursuit at Google Cloud - led global deal pursuit for four years, contributing to GCP revenue growth from $5.8B to over $30B
- **2018-2019** — Director of Commercial Management at Google
- **2010s** — VP Sales & Operations / Managing Director and GM International at Liferay - scaled the company from 200 to 900 employees across 30+ countries and operations in 97 countries
- **Early career** — Various roles at Microsoft before departing for Liferay and Google

## Achievements

- Contributed to Google Cloud's revenue growth from $5.8B to over $30B during four-year tenure leading global deal pursuit
- Scaled Liferay's workforce from 200 to 900 employees and expanded operations to 97 countries
- Speaker at Microsoft Build 2024
- Led 'Unicorns Unleashed: Scaling Innovation with Microsoft' panel at Microsoft Ignite 2024
- Speaker at HR Technology Conference
- Featured on Futurum's 'The Six Five - On The Road' alongside Microsoft's Eric Boyd (CVP, Azure AI Platform)
- Panelist on Six Five Media's 'From Early Stage to Unicorn and Beyond' panel

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — Commented on INAIT and Microsoft AI partnership, highlighting the frontier of digital brains and AI innovation.
- **2024-11** — Led 'Unicorns Unleashed: Scaling Innovation with Microsoft' panel at Microsoft Ignite 2024 in Chicago, featuring startup unicorn leaders.
- **2024-05** — Appeared as speaker at Microsoft Build 2024.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosskennedycro/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ross-kennedy
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-19