Exclusive: AOL Hires Microsoft Exec Alex Gounares as CTO

According to sources close to the situation, AOL has hired Alex Gounares (pictured here) as its CTO.

Gounares’s departure was announced internally at Microsoft (MSFT) today, where he is corporate VP of Advertising Research and Development and CTO for the software giant’s Online Services division.

According to his bio at Microsoft, Gounares had previously been “corporate vice president for Corporate Strategy, where he was responsible for helping set the overall strategic direction for the company. Before that, Gounares spent three years as the technology assistant to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, and he also was responsible for helping formulate and drive the technical strategy for the company.”

Sources said he will be moving back east to take on the job at AOL (AOL). He will replace Ted Cahall, who left AOL in late January.