Microsoft’s India-born CEO Satya Nadella has been appointed as the technology giant’s new chairman, an additional role in which he will “lead the work to set the agenda for the board”.

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday announced that the board’s independent directors unanimously elected Nadella to the role of board chair, and unanimously elected John W Thompson as the lead independent director, a role he held previously from 2012 to 2014.

“In this role, Nadella will lead the work to set the agenda for the board, leveraging his deep understanding of the business to elevate the right strategic opportunities and identify key risks and mitigation approaches for the board’s review,” the company said in a statement.

Nadella, 53, succeeds Thompson, who as the lead independent director, will retain significant authority, including providing input on behalf of the independent directors on board agendas, calling meetings of the independent directors, setting agendas for executive sessions, and leading performance evaluations of the CEO, the technology giant said.

Nadella, who has served as chief executive since 2014, has helped transform the company into a leader in cloud computing in recent years, resulting in blockbuster earnings and a market cap of close to $2 trillion, CNN reported.

The company’s shares have soared more than sevenfold as Microsoft has been restored to the ranks of the top technology companies.

Under Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft recovered from failures in the mobile phone and internet search market, as well as a waning of the importance of its flagship Windows operating system.

Nadella has refocused the company around cloud computing, mobile applications and artificial intelligence while breathing new life into the Office software franchise by shifting it more to the cloud and to other operating systems.

Nadella, the company’s third CEO, will also be the third chairman in Microsoft’s history, following Gates and Thompson. Steve Ballmer, the CEO before Nadella, never held the chairmanship as Gates kept that title for Ballmer’s entire tenure.

In addition to these role changes, the board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.56 per share. The dividend is payable September 9, 2021, to shareholders of record on August 19, 2021.