Dan'l Lewin, corporate vice president for Strategic and Emerging Business Development, is responsible for Microsoft Corp.'s global relationships with startups, venture capitalists and the business relationships with industry partners such as Adobe Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and IBM Corp. Based in Silicon Valley, Lewin also has executive and site responsibility for the company's operations in Mountain View, Calif., which currently employ 2,000 people.

Strategic and Emerging Business Development consists of three groups: the Emerging Business Team, the Local Software Economy (LSE) and the Strategic Relations Group, whose common goal is to support software startups and established companies working on the Microsoft platform while helping develop and grow local software economies worldwide. Through the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program, Microsoft BizSpark Program, and the LSE's Microsoft Innovation Center Program, Lewin's groups help accelerate startup success in more than 60 countries.

Lewin has spent more than 30 years as a Silicon Valley-based executive leading sales and marketing divisions for companies including Apple Computer Inc., NeXT Inc. and GO Corp. Before joining Microsoft, he was CEO of Aurigin Systems Inc., a startup that pioneered intellectual property asset management, and he has consulted for emerging companies, venture capital firms and corporate joint ventures.

Lewin serves on the boards of the Churchill Club; Software Development Forum; American Electronics Association; Santa Clara University Center for Science, Technology and Society; and the Tech Museum of Innovation, where he serves as chairman of the Tech Museum Awards program. He is also on the Corporate Advisory Board of the National Venture Capital Association. He holds an AB in politics from Princeton University.