Microsoft Names Dohmke CEO of Code-Sharing Platform GitHub

Microsoft Corp. named Thomas Dohmke chief executive officer for its GitHub code-sharing unit and promoted developer tools executive Julia Liuson, as the company looks to accelerate its growth in the market for software development products.

Nat Friedman will step down as CEO of GitHub with the intention of returning to his “startup roots,” Microsoft said Wednesday. Dohmke, the chief product officer, will become CEO effective Nov. 15. Dohmke was the co-founder of mobile development app HockeyApp and joined Microsoft when the software maker acquired his company. While at Microsoft, he led the GitHub acquisition process from an engineering standpoint, according to an email from Microsoft cloud chief Scott Guthrie to employees seen by Bloomberg. Dohmke will report to Liuson, who is being promoted to president of Microsoft’s developer division.