#empowHER50 – Hannah Lewbel

Hannah’s 20-year career across the world’s most iconic tech companies—Amazon, Apple, Microsoft—is a study in building human-centered systems that meet people where they are, especially in life’s most critical moments. She builds scalable, innovative technology and grows thoughtful organizations to help people—especially in moments that matter. Whether it’s a child in rural Kenya reading their first book in their own language, a Veteran accessing care after military service, or a student collaborating on a digital whiteboard in class, her focus is on empowering leaders and creating human-centered, intuitive, and high-impact products. 

At Amazon, she led engineering for the first Kindle and its next-gen successors, bringing the joy of reading to more than 50 million people in 30+ languages. Her patents—including the Kindle Lighted Cover and “Find Your Device” feature—pioneered accessible design at scale. At Apple, she helped engineer the original Mac Mini, iMacs, and MacBooks, building hardware that would become everyday creative tools for millions. 

When she joined Microsoft, Hannah brought that same focus on accessibility, empathy, and excellence to her work. In Microsoft Education, she led engineering for Microsoft Whiteboard across mobile, web, and Surface Hub, creating a lifeline for collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also filed foundational patents that made virtual engagement easier, including the now-ubiquitous “hand raise” feature. 

Later, in Substrate, she transformed Microsoft 365’s personalization capabilities using AI and behavioral signals. At Xbox, she led the Gaming Experiences team, shipping cross-platform integrations with Discord and Riot Games that redefined multiplayer connection across SmartTVs, PCs, and mobile. 

But her legacy extends far beyond product innovation. 

As CTO of Worldreader, she helped scale a literacy platform that now reaches over 22 million children in 100+ countries. Today, as Senior Technical Advisor to the CIO at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Hannah is applying her expertise at the largest healthcare system in the country. From AI-driven burnout prevention tools to modernizing a $28.6B benefits platform, she’s building systems that directly improve care for 9.1 million Veterans and their families. 

A relentless advocate for access, Hannah taught computer science to high school students through Microsoft TEALS, mentors young women in STEM, and served as a nationally certified EMT and firefighter during the height of COVID. Her leadership is thoughtful, powerful, and deeply human. 

For Hannah Lewbel, the ultimate measure of impact isn’t just what you build—it’s who you empower to make more good happen in all the moments that matter. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft’s 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Laura Neumann

When Laura Neumann walked into tech spaces where few women had gone before, she didn’t just make room at the table—she built a new one. 

With a bold vision and unwavering belief in education as a catalyst for opportunity, Laura transformed how Microsoft supports global learners, championing accessibility, equity, and innovation across the education technology ecosystem. 

As a Partner Sales Executive at Microsoft, Laura saw the immense potential in collaborating with EdTech platforms to close the digital divide. In 2020, she launched the Microsoft EdTech Partnership Program, a pioneering initiative to expand access to skilling and certification programs through trusted education providers like Coursera, edX, Udacity, and DataCamp. What began as a bold experiment quickly became a breakthrough. 

Microsoft’s first collaboration with Coursera reached over one million unique learners, offering high-impact courses in technology, data science, and business. That success validated Laura’s conviction—EdTech partners were not only viable, they were essential to Microsoft’s global skilling strategy. Today, 45% of Microsoft’s Global Partner skilling is delivered through these platforms, opening doors for millions in underserved communities. 

Through consistent results, compelling metrics, and real-world impact stories—many amplified in partnership with Women in Cloud—Laura built an irrefutable case for EdTech’s role in Microsoft’s learning ecosystem. 

Laura’s work has helped shift Microsoft’s skilling model from closed classrooms to open, inclusive digital spaces—spaces where anyone, anywhere can gain the skills needed to thrive in today’s economy. She didn’t just drive numbers; she changed narratives. 

For Laura, this work is more than strategy—it’s a mission. “Powerful women rise by lifting others, breaking barriers, and redefining what is possible,” she says. That belief has guided every step of her journey—from standing alone in boardrooms to building inclusive platforms that now serve millions. 

Her story proves that when one woman dares to push boundaries, entire systems can evolve. Laura Neumann is more than a champion of education—she’s an architect of access, building a future where learning has no limits and where women, everywhere, rise together. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Helane Cohen

When complexity is simplified and connection becomes strategy, engagement doesn’t just grow—it transforms communities. 

 
Helane Cohen has spent nearly 14 years at Microsoft transforming the way people access, understand, and engage with opportunity. As Owner of CliftonStrengths Coaching & Consultancy business —and a longtime leader inside Microsoft—her mission has been clear: simplify the complex, humanize engagement, and ensure everyone has access to the information they need to succeed. 

At Microsoft, Helane turned platforms into pipelines for connection. She led the integration of a taxonomy search feature into LinkedIn, transforming it into the central hub for Americas Partner Communications. This shift made real-time information not only accessible but actionable, resulting in a 96.2% year-over-year increase in social engagement. “True transformation begins by simplifying complexity and humanizing engagement,” she says. “When access is intentional, innovation becomes inclusive, and communities thrive.” 

Her approach to content proved just as impactful. Through the Top Stories blog, Helane delivered high-impact insights in short, digestible formats, making enablement easy and empowering. Her editorial strategy drove a 65% year-over-year increase in blog views, proving that clear communication fuels adoption at scale. 

But she didn’t stop at systems and stats. Helane believes deeply in the power of visibility and authenticity. She launched the scalable #MeetTheTeam campaign to spotlight Microsoft leaders and partners through storytelling, building trust and belonging in the ecosystem. The campaign achieved a 4.5x year-over-year engagement boost, with sustained performance in FY25. 

Helane’s career is a masterclass in communication as a vehicle for equity. Her work ensures that information is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all, delivered with empathy, intention, and strategy.  And Helane’s number one Clifton Strength is Communication, and she has leveraged it in all aspects of her work and personal life. 

Through every initiative, she has helped Microsoft partners feel seen, informed, and empowered. Because when engagement is intentional and access is human, relationships deepen, opportunities multiply, and transformation becomes truly inclusive. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Letty Cherry

Some leaders speak the loudest in a room. Others move entire organizations by seeing what no one else can—and mobilizing everyone to act on it. That is Letty Cherry in Action. 

When Letty Cherry joined Microsoft 16 years ago, she didn’t know she’d be crafting narratives that would help define some of the company’s most pivotal moments—from reimagining the future of Xbox to making AI more accessible to everyone to leading global communications through a pandemic, to orchestrating Microsoft’s historic 50th anniversary celebration. 

Her path into tech wasn’t traditional. With a background in psychology and public relations, Letty’s earliest roles ranged from marketing and communications in the airline industry, running Marketing and TV production for an entertainment company and helping a commercial hardware company shift to consumer software and devices. But the constant thread was always the same: curiosity, adaptability, and a gift for connecting dots others didn’t see. 

Throughout her journey, Letty’s superpower remained clear: the ability to see patterns, connect people, and catalyze large-scale change. 

And that’s exactly what she’s done—again and again. 

That superpower—pattern recognition—became the foundation of her career. Letty made her mark early in Xbox, helping expand its narrative beyond core gamers to embrace entertainment and broader audiences. She later stepped into emerging tech domains, shaping Microsoft’s early communications in AI, Quantum, Bing, and Edge. But it was her leadership during the COVID-19 crisis that became a defining chapter. 

As the world shut down, Letty stepped up. Working across 109 countries, she helped architect Microsoft’s internal and external pandemic response—from employee communications and health policies to launching vaccination clinics and delivering oxygenators to employees in need. “It was the most career-changing, awful, and inspiring experience that let me help make a difference when so many were suffering,” she recalls. “What mattered most was showing up with care and consistency.” 

“The ability to recognize patterns and bring people together to act on them—that’s where real transformation begins,” – Letty Cherry. 

Today, as GM of Image and Culture, Letty is a connective tissue across Microsoft’s people and storytelling systems. Her work spans global communications, social media, cultural engagement, issues management, and initiatives like the #MS50 campaign. That milestone moment, which she helped lead, was a study in orchestration—balancing pride in legacy with a vision for the next 50 years. Her contributions helped Women in Cloud to launch #empowHER50 campaign to celebrate and honor past and current women powering Microsoft’s trillion-dollar market shift. 

Letty’s influence extends beyond her title. She mentors women and talent across industries, helps them find their voice, and creates pathways where others only see walls. Her strategy? Lead with trust, speak with honesty, and never hoard the knowledge. 

She doesn’t just shape culture—she enables it to grow, reflect, and scale. 

For Letty Cherry, transformation doesn’t begin with a podium. It begins when someone dares to ask, “How could this be better?”—and then invites others to build the answer. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Sandra Jacobson

When you build quietly and relentlessly, you leave behind more than impact—you leave infrastructure. 

In 1983, Sandra Jacobson joined Microsoft as one of fewer than 300 employees—and one of the very few women in systems and product management. Over the next 31 and a half years, she helped architect some of Microsoft’s most foundational programs, laying the groundwork for the global partner network, technical certifications, developer tools, and software training systems that continue to scale opportunity today. 

Her fingerprints are on more than 40 product launches, from developer toolkits and programming languages to strategic initiatives like the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) program, which she defined, developed, implemented and MCP became a global benchmark for IT excellence and career growth. She defined and launched programs that empowered millions of IT professionals worldwide—including the first Partner Referral Tool in 30 languages, the global expansion of Microsoft Training Centers, and the Software Advisor licensing programs that helped small businesses grow smarter. 

Whether building out Microsoft’s global certification framework, creating online partner enrollment platforms, or designing the first career pathways for Microsoft Solutions Partners, Sandra always held one truth close: “Without people who are respected, who care, who support each other and the goals, a company cannot succeed.” 

Sandra’s legacy is a powerful testament to collaboration and perseverance. As Microsoft’s longest-tenured woman employee at the time of her retirement in 2014, she opened doors—then built systems to ensure others could walk through them with confidence. 

Her spotlight reminds us that true impact isn’t always loud—it’s often foundational, sustained by decades of work that lives on in the people, programs, and partnerships it empowered. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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