The Federal Reserve does not usually pull executives from gaming companies. But here we are.
Asha Sharma, the CEO of Xbox, was appointed on July 9, 2026 as one of three co-leads for the Federal Reserve’s newly formed Productivity and Jobs task force. The group’s mandate is to evaluate how general-purpose technologies, and AI specifically, are reshaping labor markets and informing monetary policy.
The timing is, to put it mildly, striking. Roughly two days before her Fed appointment, Xbox announced the largest restructuring in its history, cutting approximately 3,200 roles across the organization. About 1,600 of those cuts landed immediately on July 6 and 7, with the remaining 1,600 expected to roll through the fiscal year ending in 2027. Four game development studios were also transferred to new management as part of the overhaul.
Why Sharma, and why now
Sharma’s path to a Federal Reserve advisory role runs through Microsoft’s CoreAI group, where she spent much of early 2026 working on how large-scale AI systems integrate into enterprise operations. That background gives her something most economists on Fed panels lack: direct operational experience deploying AI at the scale of a major tech company.
