Dan Woodman has been named Microsoft's industry architect for insurance. He has an extensive background in both technology and financial services, has co-authored two books about SQL Server and worked in Microsoft's developer relations group under Sanjay Parthasarathy. For the last three years he has been part of a global team that focused on helping firms move applications from other platforms, such as Java, Oracle and the AS400, to Microsoft. In financial services Woodman has worked with Citigroup on CitiVision and with Thomson on its development partnership with Microsoft. He graduated from Marquette University with a degree in political science and economics with minors in French and computer science.

Stevan Vidich is Microsoft's new industry architect for capital markets, replacing Mark Horvath, who has moved to a similar position in the financial services worldwide group. Vidich spent four years at Integrated Information Systems, a gold-certified Microsoft partner before joining Microsoft four years ago. He has worked with American Express, Wells Fargo, Schwab and Bank of America. His immediate goal in capital markets is to work with partners to understand the needs of Wall Street and develop a technical framework to improve the integration of partner solutions. Vidich has a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Cornell University.