Elastic (NYSE: ESTC) has nominated Julia Liuson, a veteran technology executive with more than three decades of industry experience, to serve on its Board of Directors.
Liuson most recently served as President of Microsoft’s Developer Division, where she led technology and business strategy for Microsoft’s developer tools and Azure developer platform.
Her portfolio at Microsoft also included GitHub, where she played a central role in driving AI integration into software development through GitHub Copilot.
Liuson first joined Microsoft in 1992 as a software design engineer, later becoming corporate vice president of the Developer Division in 2012 and president of the division in 2021.
Throughout her tenure, she helped shape Microsoft’s strategy across Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, .NET, Azure developer services and GitHub, while leading AI adoption within the software development process.
Elastic CEO Ash Kulkarni said the nomination reflects the company’s ambition to become the critical context layer powering the next generation of AI applications and agents.
“The next phase of AI is not just about better models. It is about giving those models and agents the context they need to reason, act and deliver reliable outcomes in production,” said Kulkarni.
Liuson emphasized that AI is fundamentally changing not only how software is built, but also how it operates in real-world environments at scale.
“As applications become more agentic, they need access to the right information at the right time, with the relevance, trust and operational visibility required in real-world environments,” said Liuson.
She added: “I’ve been impressed by the company’s technology, its commitment to developers and its approach to helping developers close the gap between AI prototypes and production systems.”
Liuson currently serves on the boards of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. and private company Wanderboat.AI, an AI travel planning and local discovery platform, and is also a board observer at Schneider Electric SE.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Washington and was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2019.
Her nomination is subject to a shareholder vote at Elastic’s annual general shareholder meeting scheduled for October 2026, pursuant to Dutch law.
Upon election, Liuson will also be appointed to serve as a member of Elastic’s Compensation Committee, adding governance responsibilities to her advisory role.
Separately, current board member Caryn Marooney notified the Board that she will not stand for re-appointment following the expiration of her term in October 2026.
Kulkarni paid tribute to Marooney, describing her as “a truly valued member of our Board and a trusted advisor to Elastic as we have grown from a startup to a multi-billion dollar infrastructure technology company.”
