Executive Biographies
John Vassallo
John Vassallo
Vice President EU Affairs General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation
John Vassallo is Microsoft Vice President EU Affairs as well as Associate General Counsel for the company. He leads Microsoft’s EU Corporate Affairs and Regulatory team.
His position was created to help advance the company’s dialogue with the EU policy and regulatory community.
Vassallo is also Chair of AmCham EU, the organization in Brussels that represents 140 companies of US parentage at the European Institutions and EU governments
From 1993 to 1997 Vassallo was Ambassador of Malta to the European Union, NATO and Belgium, where he negotiated the timing of his country’s accession to the EU and NATO. He then became General Electric’s Senior Counsel & Director of the European Affairs Office, based in Brussels, a post he held until he joined Microsoft in 2008.
Vassallo attended the University of Malta and graduated with a B.A. degree in English, Italian and Maltese in 1968. He went on to obtain a Doctor of Laws from the same university in 1973. He undertook his postgraduate studies in European Law and Economics at Amsterdam University and in Swedish Law at Stockholm University. After one year at his family law firm in Malta, he joined the Euroc Corporation of Malmo, Sweden, in 1975. During his 15 years at Euroc, he moved from Audit Staff to Group Controller at the Siporex Division. In 1984 he became Manager of Siporex France for a major reconstruction of the company and moved to Vice President and Director Finance and Administration of Dynapac, another division of the group, in 1986.
In 1987 he became President of Dynapac Concrete. From 1991 to 1993 he worked as a lobbyist and Director of Cembureau, the European Cement Association in Brussels.
