Jan Mühlfeit

Thanks to his sales results, in 2000 Mühlfeit became the director for the whole of the Central and Eastern Europe region and a member of the company's top management worldwide. On August 19, 2002, he was appointed vice-chairman for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Under his leadership, the CEE region, for which he was directly responsible, remained top in the Microsoft worldwide rankings for four years. From 2005 to 2006 he was vice-chairman for public administration in the region (EMEA) and was later appointed Chairman Europe of the Microsoft Corporation, a position he held until he left at the end of 2014. Mühlfeit was involved in formulating Microsoft's global strategies for the emerging markets and served as advisor to many governmental organisations and NGOs in the region (EMEA). During this time he represented his firm in dealings with the governments of the various European countries, key European institutions and the firm's biggest corporate clients and trading partners.

He joined Microsoft in 1993 as Marketing Director. From February 1, 1998, until 2000 he worked for Microsoft as the Managing Director and CEO of the Czech branch. One controversial incident from his time there is the Mironet vs. Microsoft case, which concerns breach of copyright. According to the Mironet management, Mühlfeit, together with Czech Microsoft Sales Director Vladimír Smutný, allegedly influenced an investigation into Mironet's efforts in 1999 to sell computers without Microsoft Windows 98 pre-installed as the operating system. Mironet has not provided any evidence in this case at all since 2000.

During the era of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, before the Velvet Revolution, he worked in the scientific and technical intelligence service (First National Security Corps under State Security) and used the cover name Masopust (Carnival). In July 1989 he was promoted to senior officer. In 1990 he passed an evaluation by the screening commissions and, as a person with integrity, was recommended for further service with the Ministry of the Interior. The minister at the time, Ján Langoš, promoted Mühlfeit to First Lieutenant in 1991. Then, in 1991, he left to join the Czech software company Software602, where he served as International Sales and Marketing Director.

Jan Mühlfeit (born January 8, 1962) is a Czech manager, global strategist, coach and mentor. He spent almost 22 years working for Microsoft, the last 15 of which were in top management. His last post before he left in 2014 was Chairman Europe of the Microsoft Corporation, a position he held from 2007. He acts as an advisor to a number of governmental and international organisations, such as AIESEC, the World Economic Forum, the European Commission, and the OECD.

Mühlfeit was born on January 8, 1962, in Jihlava, Czech Republic. In 1986 he graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague with a degree in Information Technology.