Amy Hood appointed as Microsoft's CFO

Amy Hood is the first woman to hold the top finance job at Microsoft, being given the role of a chief financial officer. The appointment assumes significance as the leadership of most technology companies is still dominated by men. In an email to Microsoft employees, CEO Steve Ballmer said Hood had helped lead the change of Microsoft Office into a cloud service, and he worked closely with her on two big acquisitions - Skype and Yammer.

Hood joined Microsoft in 2002 and has been the chief financial officer of the software maker's business division which oversees its lucrative Office suite of applications.

According to New York Times, Hood will replace Peter Klein, the current CFO who quit Microsoft to spend more time with his family.