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J ALLARD // Corporate Vice President, Design and Development, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft Corp.

A 15-year veteran of Microsoft Corp., J Allard is the corporate vice president and chief technology officer of Design and Development for the Entertainment and Devices Division. Branching from his continued success in the consumer entertainment market with Xbox®, Allard helped to launch Zune®, Microsoft's music and entertainment brand, in November 2006.

With a strong vision for the future of connected entertainment, one of Allard's quests as CTO is to use technology to narrow the gap between artists and their audiences and to provide consumers with new digital entertainment experiences.

Before his work on Zune, Allard helped to ship more than 30 products at Microsoft, helped shape the company's Internet strategy and early products in the Internet space, and was a founding member of the Xbox, Windows NT® and TCP/IP product families.

Allard holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Boston University and was recognized in 2003 as a Distinguished Alumnus, the highest honor the university confers on its alumni. Allard has been named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 35 Entertainment Execs Under 35, Allard was dubbed a "Baby Bill" in Business 2.0, was included in Details' list of Most Powerful Men Under 38, and is a member of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leader program.