Jeff Bogdan '91

Director of Learning and Development, Microsoft Windows

I was born and raised in Virginia. I’m the youngest of seven kids, with the rest of my siblings now living in Pa., Va., and NC. While at Virginia Tech in 1990, I did one winter internship with Microsoft and was hooked. After graduating, I drove across the country to Redmond, Wa. and I’ve been here ever since. I met my wife, Charu, at work during development of the Windows 95 product. We got married in 1996. We have two boys, Luke (22) and Drew (19). This last fall we celebrated becoming empty nesters. Charu and I have been taking ballroom dancing classes for the last couple of years and do a lot of hiking together with our dog, Hobbes.

How did the department equip you for the ‘real world’...
Co-oping was one of the best decisions I ever made and I appreciated how much the department evangelized this. Having five years in school gave me a ton of time to spend on the job (I worked in the industry for a total of five semesters). I loved being able to readily apply what I had just learned in college on the job. And the internships brought a more professional perspective to my schoolwork.

Being a Virginia Tech alumnus means...
Being part of a community that keeps me connected to my home state. As my kids approached college, I turned more attention to recruiting at Microsoft and began signing up for our recruiting trips to Virginia Tech. I love being a bridge between these two communities that mean so much to me. I’m looking forward to the “time after” when we can resume in-person visits and I can get back to Blacksburg!

My fondest memory from my time in the department is...
Top-notch professors that clearly loved their field, their profession, and their students. Sean Arthur, Dennis Jones, and Bill McQuain are the three professors in particular that really made a difference in my computer science experience at Virginia Tech. And I need to call out Cliff Shaffer, because even though I only had one class with him, it was the most important class I took in college: Data Structures!

I’ve been at Microsoft for nearly 30 years because…
What brought me to Microsoft way back in 1990 was the impact of the products and the horsepower of the developers. I was blown away by what these engineers were doing as a team, and felt honored that they invited me to join them. What has kept me at this company for 30 years is the large portfolio that Microsoft works across and the impact that we can have by joining forces across this portfolio. I have a strong network at this company that enables me to be a powerful connector, bringing together individuals and ideas from distant corners of this 140,000-employee company. I may have a dull day now and then, but I never have a dull week.

I work hard, but my favorite way to play hard is..
My love for biking started in Blacksburg, with my friend Buddy and I exploring terrific back roads like Tom’s Creek, Mount Zion, and Ellet. In 2005, I started riding again and have loved all the places and terrain that the Northwest has to offer: road, gravel, and mountain. I love endurance riding. Every year, I have a one-week retreat that includes five days of biking, typically on the East Coast where I have a bike stored (currently in Harrisburg, Pa.). I hop on a plane with a pannier bag and a helmet, and then hop on my bike and start riding. Typically I do 100 miles a day. My favorite endurance ride tradition is riding from sunrise to sunset on each solstice. For my 50th birthday, I was headed to Virginia Tech for a reunion and rode from Waynesboro to Blacksburg on the Summer Solstice. I love the Blue Ridge Parkway!