Microsoft Corp. named former Disney and General Motors executive Tony Scott as chief information officer on Thursday, after it ousted its previous executive in November under mysterious circumstances.

The software maker named Scott, 56, for the open CIO position. He will manage the software giant's 4,000-person global information technology operation that manages critical technology systems supporting the company's world-wide sales, marketing and services efforts. He will officially assume his post in February.

He takes over the role previously held by Stuart Scott (no relation to Tony Scott) who was fired in November for violating company policies, Microsoft said in a statement in November. The company has never elaborated.

At Disney, where he was senior vice president in addition to CIO, Scott was the first CIO to manage the entire company's IT systems, according to Microsoft. Prior to Disney, Scott was Chief Technology Officer at General Motors and vice president of operations at Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co.

Mr. Scott will report to Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner.

Our internal IT systems and operations play a critical role in the success of our business and how we deliver new technologies and advancements to our customers in the marketplace, Turner said. We will leverage Tony's deep experience in running global IT organizations.

In October, Microsoftreported a 23 percent increase in fiscal first-quarter earnings, in results suggesting that corporate technology spending remained healthy. Despite the ongoing credit squeeze and collapsing U.S. real estate markets, global spending on IT is still expected to grow by at least 8 percent to $3.1 trillion this year, according to the Gartner research firm

There are a lot of new faces in the ranks of upper management at Microsoft, with a string of new executives in the last six months.

The most recent shuffle was last week when Jeff Raikes, president of the Business Division, said he will leave the company in September. The company replaced him with Stephen Elop, a former executive of Juniper Networks, Macromedia and Adobe .

Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has said he will relinquish full time duties at the company in July.

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