We’re proud to welcome Michelle Gonzalez as the new corporate vice president and global head of M12, Microsoft’s venture fund.
“Michelle’s deep and diverse experience in corporate venture capital and startup incubation—as well as her passion for people management and workplace inclusion—are among the reasons she will lead M12 with purpose and impact,” said Chris Young, executive vice president of business development, strategy, and ventures at Microsoft. “I look forward to learning from Michelle as she guides our talented venture team and supports the entrepreneurs in our portfolio.”
Prior to joining Microsoft and M12, Michelle was the managing partner for Area 120, Google’s internal incubator, where she led a transformation to align the organization’s strategy and investment criteria to key thematic areas within and adjacent to Google’s core businesses. Her tenure saw a record number of projects “spin in” to become key products or capabilities at Google. During her time at Area 120, Michelle served on the Latinx Leadership Council at Google, which delivered guidance about ways to best support Latinx leadership at the company. Michelle first joined Google in the Office of CEO, working on special projects related to startups and innovation.
Before joining Google, Michelle was an entrepreneur-in-residence and investor at Comcast Ventures, where she focused on investments in VR/AR and AI. Michelle also managed capital deployment to Black and Latinx seed stage founders from Comcast Ventures’ Catalyst Fund, a dedicated investment fund for underrepresented founders. After her time at Comcast Ventures, Michelle was a partner at IBM Ventures, where she focused on AI, blockchain, and quantum computing partnerships.
Before her move into corporate venture capital, Michelle was a senior product and business executive at Apple for over seven years, leading product for News, Books and the Movies business outside the US. Michelle began her career at McKinsey & Co. and worked for many years in the film and media industry in Los Angeles.
One of Michelle’s hobbies is connecting people and learning through conversation. In 2010 she co-founded the Influencer Series, a community of technology leaders, which has hosted more than 90 roundtable discussions with over 4,000 founders, investors, and tech executives.
Michelle holds a B.A. in business administration majoring in economics from the University of Oklahoma and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She grew up on the south Texas border and now lives in the Bay Area with her daughter.
