This morning, Andy Jassy, Adam Selipsky and Matt Garman shared the following messages with our teams.
A little over three years ago, when Jeff announced my new role, one of my first tasks was to identify who would take over and run AWS. It was important to me that we have someone who understands AWS, values our culture, provides strong continuity, and can continue to grow the company. We had strong leaders at AWS, several of whom could run the entire company long-term, but who would benefit from a few more years to gain experience and learn under a more experienced CEO.
Adam Selipsky was one of the first VPs we hired at AWS in 2005 and spent 11 years excellently leading AWS sales, marketing and support, before leaving to become CEO of Tableau . I always had a lot of respect for Adam and we met several times to discuss the possibility of returning to lead AWS. During these conversations, we agreed that if he accepted this role, he would likely do so for a few years, and that one of the things he would focus on during that time was helping prepare the next generation of leaders.
We were fortunate that Adam agreed to step in and lead AWS, and that he ably led the company, while growing his leadership team. Adam will now move on to his next challenge (after taking a much-needed break) and Matt Garman will become CEO of AWS, effective June 3.
I want to thank Adam for everything he has done to lead AWS over the past three years. He took office in the midst of the pandemic, which presented a wide range of leadership and business challenges. Under his leadership, the team made the right long-term decision to help customers become more efficient in their spending, even if it meant less short-term revenue for AWS. Throughout, the team continued to invent and launch new services at a rapid pace, including several high-impact generative AI services, such as Amazonian base And Amazon Q. Adam leaves AWS in a strong position, having reached $100 billion in annual revenue last quarter, with revenue further accelerating year-over-year. Perhaps most importantly, AWS continues to lead in operational performance, security, reliability, and the overall breadth and depth of our services. I deeply appreciate Adam’s leadership during this time and the entire team’s dedication to meeting customer and company expectations.
As some of you may know, Matt started at Amazon as an MBA intern in the summer of 2005, and joined the company full-time in 2006 as one of the first leaders AWS product. Initially working across AWS, Matt helped create our first SLAs, define new features, and create new pricing plans. He then became our first product manager for EC2 and led EC2 product management during its formative years. During this time, he also led the team that defined, launched and operated EBS. Matt eventually became General Manager of all AWS Compute services in 2016, which he did for approximately four years. In 2020, after being deeply involved in our product organization for 14 years, I asked Matt to move to the demand generation side of AWS to lead WW Sales, Marketing, Support and Professional Services .
Matt has an unusually strong set of skills and experiences for his new role. He is very customer focused, a tremendous product manager, inventive, an intelligent problem solver, he is very reasonable, has high standards and a significant bias for action, and in the 18 years he has worked at AWS, he was one of the best learners I know. I met. Matt knows our customers and our business as well as anyone in the world, and has leadership experience on both the product and demand generation sides. I’m excited to see Matt and his exceptional AWS leadership team continue to invent our future: AWS is still in its infancy.
Thanks again to Adam for his leadership and please join me in congratulating Matt.
Andy
Team,
Thank you Andy, I appreciate the kind words and your leadership during all these years together. I take this next step with really mixed emotions; I’ve spent almost 15 combined years at AWS, and it’s been a true privilege.
I’m very grateful for everything I’ve learned about technology, leadership, organization, and culture at Amazon. Helping all of our customers and partners build has been an incredible experience. Above all, I am grateful for my many friendships here and for my talented colleagues who have taught me so much, while bringing me such good humor.
Leading this incredible team and the AWS business is important work, and I’m proud of everything we’ve accomplished from a startup to where we are today. In the back of my head, I thought there might be another chapter at some point, but I never wanted to distract from what we all work so hard for. Given the state of the company and the management team, now is the right time for me to make this transition and take advantage of the opportunity to spend more time with my family for a while, recharge my batteries a little and create free mental space to think. and think about the possibilities.
Matt and the AWS leadership team are ready to seize this next big opportunity. I can’t wait to see what you and them do next, because I know it will be impressive. The future is bright for AWS (and for Amazon). I wish you all good luck in this adventure.
Always forward,
Adam
Thanks Andy and Adam. Adam, I want to personally thank you for everything you have done for the company, for our customers and for me. I have learned a lot from you over the years and know that the AWS business would not be where it is today without your contribution and leadership.
Over the past 18 years, I’ve been fortunate to work on many different aspects of the AWS business, but one constant has been the world-class talent and unwavering customer obsession of the people I’ve worked with. work. I’m more optimistic than ever about the potential for innovation and growth that awaits us, and I look forward to helping us move faster, invent more, and operate as one team to help our customers.
To me, AWS is more than just a company. We are a team of missionaries working with passion to help improve our customers’ lives and businesses every day. It has been a privilege to work alongside you over the past 18 years, and I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to do so in this new, broader role. I am excited to begin !
We will naturally be making some organizational adjustments as part of this transition, so watch for details on this in the coming weeks. Additionally, I’ll be hosting a number of AWS Town Halls over the next month, and I look forward to communicating directly with more of you at them.
THANKS,
Mast
