Neil Barnett Succeeds Jenny Lay-Flurrie as microsoft’s chief accessibility officer

In a LinkedIn post shared on Wednesday, Microsoft’s Jenny Lay-Flurrie announced some big news in its corporate leadership ranks: The company has a new chief accessibility officer in Neil Barnett. Flurrie previously held the role before recently being promoted to vice president and head of Microsoft’s Trusted Technology Group.

“Neil has been at Microsoft for 24 years and, for the last 12, has been advancing accessibility,” Flurrie wrote concerning Barnett’s ascension into his new role. “His leadership has strengthened our products, our support systems, and our culture. He built and scaled efforts including Microsoft’s Neurodiversity program and the Disability Answer Desk, which has supported more than two million customers since 2013. Neil brings a rare combination of unwavering advocacy, strong operational and people leadership combined with clarity, conviction, and purpose.”

Microsoft’s accessibility teams “will report” to Barnett, according to Flurrie.

She also said she “could not be more excited” for accessibility’s future at Microsoft, emphasizing it’s “foundational” to earning trust and delivering on the myriad promises bandied about by artificial intelligence. To that end, Flurrie said Barnett’s new job “is the right leadership team to navigate this era and the opportunities and risks ahead.”

For his part, Barnett wrote in his own post on LinkedIn it’s a “privilege” to be assuming to duties of chief accessibility officer, saying “the moment matters.” Regarding AI, Barnett wrote “the choices we make now will determine who technology truly works for [and] accessibility must be part of that foundation, not added later, not assumed.”

“I’ve learned over time that trust comes from listening, investing in long‑term relationships, and showing up consistently. Accessibility needs are constantly evolving, deeply personal, and never solved in isolation. Real progress happens when we build with the disability community, not for it,” Barnett said in his own post about today’s announcement. “My goal is simple. Accessibility should be seamless and just work. AI can help us get there, but trust and collaboration will lead the way. I am grateful for the team, the trust placed in me, and the responsibility ahead.”

Both Flurrie and Barnett are people I’ve known for years, as well as interviewed many times over time. I last spoke with Flurrie in 2024, when she told me all about that year’s Ability Summit, AI, and more topics. As for Barnett, I last spoke with him in 2022 about neurodiversity at Microsoft and the company’s accessible, inclusive hiring practices.