Chris Pirie, General Manager within Microsoft's Sales, Marketing and Services Group Readiness (SMGSR) organization, will serve as the 2011 chair-elect on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). Pirie joined the board in 2010 as a director and will serve for two more years, becoming chair in 2012.

As General Manager in Microsoft's SMGSR organization, Mr. Pirie leads the training and readiness for all Microsoft's sales, marketing, and technical field employees worldwide.

Mr. Pirie joined Microsoft in September 2004 as Senior Director of Learning Product Development, and subsequently he held global sales and marketing responsibility for Microsoft Learning, Microsoft's customer training business. Prior to joining Microsoft Mr. Pirie worked for Oracle spearheading online learning using Oracle's Learning Management System.

A native of England, Mr. Pirie moved to the United States in 1991. He has a degree in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Essex in England.