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As president of Xbox, Sarah Bond oversees Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar global gaming platform. In 2023, the 46-year-old Harvard and Yale graduate played a major role in the $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc., the creators of Candy Crush and Call of Duty. But the story doesn’t end there. The acquisition would be America gaming’s largest deal — ever. Despite being a Black woman in a man’s game, the Jersey native has been a rising star at Microsoft for some time. According to Bloomberg: “Seven years into her tenure, she can still seem like a newcomer in an industry whose prominent leaders are often lifers. And given the demographics of the industry, a Black woman who tends to wear 4-inch heels is easy to pigeon hole as an outsider.” This year was another good one for Bond. Xbox bought its cloud gaming service to Amazon Fire TV devices, and Bond and her team also helped turn the game Palword into a surprise success.