Microsoft Poaches Qualcomm Exec Peggy Johnson

Peggy Johnson, a top executive at Qualcomm, is leaving the company to take a high-level executive post at Microsoft, according to sources.

Johnson has been an executive vice president and head of global market development at Qualcomm, a role that included oversight for Qualcomm labs and the company’s marketing efforts. Johnson, a 24-year Qualcomm executive, is the company’s highest ranking female executive and the only woman listed among its top officers.

She began her career at the company as an engineer in its wireless business and rose to become vice president of technology in that unit, before becoming a VP of business development for Qualcomm’s consumer products unit.

A Microsoft representative declined to comment, as did a Qualcomm representative.

Johnson is the most significant departure from Qualcomm since Steve Mollenkopf took over as CEO earlier this year. Former Qualcomm Atheros head Craig Barratt left at the end of 2012 and has resurfaced in a high-profile post at Google.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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