Above: Microsoft’s new PR and Communications Director for Latin America, Florencia Bianco. Photo courtesy Microsoft.

Microsoft Latin America announced that Florencia Bianco will be joining the company as the Regional Director of Public Relations and Communications. In this position, Florencia will lead the company’s external, internal, and digital communications for the 35 countries in which Microsoft Latin America has a presence including Trinidad and Tobago.

Before joining Microsoft, Florencia worked six years at Google, where she began by heading communications for Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay and then went on to serve a regional role as Senior Communications Manager, in charge of strategic planning and campaign development for Latin America.

Originally from Argentina, for the past three years, Florencia has lived in Mexico City, where she will continue to be based for her new position. The Microsoft Latin America headquarters is located in Fort Lauderdale.

Florencia has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgetown University, a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University, and a Master’s in Journalism from the University of San Andrés. Before entering the technology industry, she worked for Argentina’s public sector, the Poder Ciudadano Foundation, Mora y Araujo Grupo de Comunicación, and Kraft Foods. She was also a consultant for the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the company Táctica in Barcelona.

She is passionate about technology and the transformative power it can have throughout the region and participates in a number of different organisations and movements that promote solving social problems with technology, open data, including the most vulnerable populations in the digital economy, and representing women in the industry. Likewise, her love of cycling has led her to activism within the realm of sustainable mobility. 

Florencia joins Microsoft at a time in which the company is undergoing a process of transformation in order to accelerate the adoption of cloud computing and the application of artificial intelligence. According to a study from IDC, by the year 2020, 55% of all business IT infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean will be based in the cloud. Against this backdrop, Microsoft Latin America is firmly betting on key industries for the region’s development, including financial services, retail, manufacturing, health, and the public and education sectors.

“I believe it is a great moment for Microsoft, which realigned its mission several years ago in order to fully focus on the revolution that the cloud has presented and the democratization of artificial intelligence, not only for the benefit of large companies, but also for that of SMEs, government bodies, non-profit organisations, and startups,” Florencia comments. “I am excited about the communications challenges this change is presenting both within and outside of the company.”