In an announcement on Thursday, Microsoft revealed that it has hired Mark Penn - Hillary Clinton’s controversial chief strategist during the 2008 presidential elections – as its Corporate Vice President for Strategic and Special Projects.

According to the information shared by Microsoft, Penn – who is currently the global CEO of Burson-Marstellar and CEO of the polling firm Penn Schoen Berland LLC – will be leading the company’s team focused on key consumer initiatives, particularly Microsoft’s search engine Bing; and will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer.

About the responsibilities which Penn will shoulder in his new position at Microsoft, the company said that Penn – which his vast experience in strategic development, branding, and positioning – will chiefly develop ideas that will keep the company on top of changing consumer needs.

Going by his bio, Penn – who was an incredibly polarizing presence in Hillary Clinton’s dysfunctional 2008 campaign - had also served as chief advisor to President Bill Clinton during the presidential election in 1996. In addition, he worked also as a strategic consultant to companies such as Ford, Merck & Co., Intel, and McDonald's; and has been a longtime Microsoft consultant.

Talking very highly of Penn’s “incredible background in research, demographics, marketing and positioning,” Ballmer said in a statement that Penn has “a proven history in developing unique insights that drive success."