In the midst of all the leadership changes taking place at Xbox last week, it was quietly revealed on LinkedIn by former Xbox employee Craig Cincotta that he's now the new "Chief of Staff, OCEO Xbox".
OCEO stands for "Office of the CEO", and Cincotta has a few connections to the new Microsoft Gaming CEO and Xbox boss, Asha Sharma. For one, they were both working in marketing at Microsoft back in 2013, and then they both also joined the insurance company Porch Group — where Sharma was a COO, and Cincotta was a Senior Vice President and Head of Communications.
In recent years, both have been working in AI at Microsoft, with Cincotta himself serving as a General Manager of Communications for Cloud and AI from September 2022 until February 2026.
Going back to his days as an Xbox employee, Cincotta was a Director of Communications at Xbox from September 2010 until July 2013, and then was a Director of Sports Marketing (again at Xbox) for a brief period from July to November of 2013.
The post you see above is originally from LinkedIn, and the new Chief of Staff is being inundated with messages of congratulations over there, including from many Xbox veterans such as Aaron Greenberg and Major Nelson.
Aaron Greenberg on LinkedIn: "Huge congratulations Craig, pumped to get to work together again!"
Just to clear up, there is more than one Chief of Staff at Xbox — one you might be thinking of is Rare legend Louise O'Connor, who is the Chief of Staff at Xbox Game Studios specifically, and has been since August 2025. Amy Stillion is also a Chief of Staff for "Game Content & Studios Operations & Mojang Studios", for example.
Xbox has never defined what the "Chief of Staff" role entails, but in Cincotta's case, it'll likely involve working very closely with Asha Sharma as someone who can help bring her Xbox vision to life, while also acting as a key advisor.
On behalf of the Pure Xbox team, we wish Craig Cincotta all the best in his new role!