Jawad Khaki

Jawad Khaki, a longtime Microsoft executive who was an early member of the Windows NT development team, is leaving the company at the end of the month. Khaki, whose role has been in flux since late 2007, said this morning that he decided it was time to start a new phase of his life, much as Bill Gates, Jeff Raikes and other Microsoft executives have done.

Khaki, 51, was a Windows networking leader for many years, including a role as vice president of Windows networking and device technologies during the rocky Windows Vista development cycle. Khaki was shifted to corporate vice president of the Windows Hardware Ecosystem Group in late 2006, around the time Windows Vista shipped, and remained in that role for about a year before leaving the position in late 2007 and taking an extended leave.

He said he has been in a transitional mode inside the company since coming back, shifting from his prior role and weighing new possibilities. After 20 years at Microsoft, he's now looking for ways to combine his philanthropic and technology interests after he leaves.

"If you divide it up, you spend the first portion of your life learning, then earning, then serving, then resting," he said. "I'm in the serving portion of my life right now. But serving doesn't really mean that I'm going to retire." Sometimes, he explained, "the best way to help out is to pursue projects that others may not really be doing, to help people," but still with a commercial focus.

Khaki, a leader in the local Muslim community, was recognized with Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award from the national Interfaith Alliance Foundation for his work in the community following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.