Bill Stasior
William F. Stasior Jr | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Corporate Vice President, Microsoft |
| Employer | Microsoft |
Bill Stasior (William F. Stasior Jr.) is an American computer scientist and technology executive. He best known for leading Apple's virtual-assistant group, Siri, from 2012 to 2019 and for subsequent senior artificial-intelligence roles at Microsoft.[1] Prior to joining Apple, he founded and ran Amazon's search-technology subsidiary A9.com, serving on Jeff Bezos's senior "S-Team".[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Stasior earned his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[3] His doctoral research focused on interactive video processing and software-radio systems, with several technical reports published through MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science.[4]
Career
[edit]Early work (1995–2003)
[edit]After graduate school, Stasior joined Oracle as a senior engineer and later became Director of Advanced Development at AltaVista, where he worked on large-scale web-search and contextual-advertising platforms.[5]
Amazon and A9.com (2003–2012)
[edit]Stasior joined Amazon in 2003 as Director of Search & Navigation and co-founded A9.com in 2004; he became its president and CEO in 2006.[6] At A9 he oversaw product-search ranking, search advertising, and acquisitions such as the image-recognition start-up SnapTell in 2009.[7] A 2009 Puget Sound Business Journal profile noted that A9 handled billions of product-search queries daily across Amazon's e-commerce sites.[8]
Apple (2012–2019)
[edit]Apple recruited Stasior in October 2012 as Vice President, Siri & Search, to rebuild the assistant's natural-language and machine-learning teams.[9] Under his leadership Siri expanded to more than 30 languages and shipped across iPhone, iPad, Watch, Mac and HomePod.[2] He stepped down amid a broader AI re-organization in early 2019 and departed Apple that May.[1]
Microsoft (2019–present)
[edit]Microsoft announced in August 2019 that Stasior would join as Corporate Vice President of Technology, reporting to chief technology officer Kevin Scott and focusing on company-wide AI strategy.[10]
Board and advisory roles
[edit]In 2019, Stasior was appointed to the executive advisory committee at Avellino Labs.[11]
In 2024, he was made a senior advisor at the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.[3]
Patents and publications
[edit]Stasior is listed as inventor on more than 50 U.S. patents spanning search ranking, vision-based commerce and conversational interfaces.[12] He co-authored early peer-reviewed papers on multimedia systems while at MIT.[4]
Recognition
[edit]Technology media describe Stasior as a "search guru" and "prominent technologist" for his contributions to commercial search and voice AI.[2][9]
Personal life
[edit]According to public filings and professional profiles, Stasior resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and mentors early-stage technology founders.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Statt, Nick (19 August 2019). "Former Siri chief is leaving Apple to join Microsoft's AI division". The Verge. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ a b c Guglielmo, Connie (15 October 2012). "Apple Hires Amazon Search Guru Stasior To Oversee Siri". Forbes. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ a b "Bill Stasior – Senior Advisor". Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ a b Visual Processing for Seamless Interactive Computing (PDF) (Technical report). MIT LCS. 1994. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ "Apple hires Amazon exec to run Siri team". Engadget. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ "Apple Hires an Amazon Exec to Fix Siri". Business Insider. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ Rao, Leena (16 June 2009). "Image Recognition Startup SnapTell Acquired by Amazon Subsidiary A9.com". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ "Amazon's A9: Rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated". Puget Sound Business Journal. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ a b Swisher, Kara (15 October 2012). "Apple Nabs Amazon A9 Exec Stasior to Run Siri". All Things D. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ Hardwick, Tim (20 August 2019). "Former Siri Chief Bill Stasior Joins Microsoft to Lead AI Team". MacRumors. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ "Bill Stasior Joins Avellino Labs Executive Advisory Committee". Avellino Labs. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ "William F. Stasior – Patent results". Google Patents. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ "William F. Stasior – Résumé" (PDF). Retrieved 8 July 2025.