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Rick Thompson is corporate vice president of Zune, Microsoft Corp.'s digital music and entertainment brand. A seasoned Microsoft veteran, Thompson oversees the Zune business and strategy. His unique blend of hardware, services, advertising, retail and international experience brings an added element to the Zune executive team that helps drive the company's vision for the future of music and digital entertainment.

Most recently Thompson was corporate vice president of the Windows Live Advertising and Monetization Platforms at Microsoft and was responsible for the company's engineering efforts around the Ad Platform as well as the billing and subscriptions monetization teams. Thompson originally joined Microsoft in 1987 as product manager for the Microsoft Mouse. He was named general manager of Microsoft Hardware in 1991 and vice president of the division in 1996. Under Thompson's leadership, Microsoft Hardware developed many groundbreaking new products, including the Natural Keyboard and SideWinder gaming devices, and grew from 13 employees and $30 million in annual revenue to 300 employees generating $600 million in revenue. In July 1999 Thompson joined the nascent Xbox team to build the new technology's business case and leadership team.

In 2000 Thompson left Microsoft to join Go2Net Inc., where he served as chief financial officer and vice president of product development. He rejoined Microsoft in December 2002 to run the Windows Client Extended Platform Division. That group was composed of three units: the Windows eHome Division (Media Center), the Windows Mobility Group (Tablet) and the Windows Hardware Experiences Group, which was focused primarily on expanding Windows products and SKU offerings in emerging markets.

Thompson graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in French and economics. Thompson also exercises his entrepreneurial spirit as owner of Seattle Chocolates and co-owner of Ferrari of Seattle. He is married and has two children.