Read more about how Amazon is upending business, from A to Z
Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO last July. Amazon veteran Andy Jassy is the captain now. It’s time to get familiar with him.
How old is he?
Jassy is 53.
Where is he from?
He grew up in Scarsdale, an affluent suburb of New York City. His father was a corporate lawyer at Dewey Ballantine; his mother was a trustee for a youth theater program. His older sister, Kathy Savitt, once worked at Amazon, and is now the president and chief commercial officer of Boom Supersonic, an aviation startup.
Where did he go to school?
After graduating from the public Scarsdale High School, where he played varsity soccer and tennis, he went to Harvard, where he majored in government and was the advertising manager for the Harvard Crimson. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS) as well.
What was his first job?
Amazon! At least, that was his first after business school. “I took my last final exam at HBS [on] the first Friday of May, in 1997, and I started at Amazon the next Monday. No, I didn’t know what my job was going to be, or what my title was going to be. It was super important to the Amazon people that we come that Monday,” Jassy said in a Harvard Business School podcast. He became a marketing manager.
What’s he done so far at Amazon?
A lot. For one thing, he argued that the company’s first expansion beyond books should be into music sales. In 2002, he became the first in a long line of “shadow advisers” to Jeff Bezos, spending a year trailing the CEO at all of his meetings, and functioning as a chief of staff. The next year, he and Bezos developed the concept for what would become Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is now the revenue driver for the entire company. Jassy became CEO of AWS in 2016; he earned $36.6 million that year. During his final quarter before becoming CEO of Amazon, AWS had $4 billion in operating income, which was up 25% year over year.
Does he have a family?
Jassy married Elana Caplan in 1997. A former apparel designer, she founded a textile, rug, and glassware marketplace called Eclectic Nomad in 2015. They have two children and live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
When did he become CEO?
July 5, 2021
What does he care about?
The Rangers, the Mets, the Knicks, and the Giants. Also, it was under Jassy’s leadership that AWS decided to boot Parler from the platform in January, soon after the Capitol invasion.
Does he have any side hustles?
Jassy is a minority owner of the Seattle Kraken, an NHL team, and is the chairman of Rainier Prep, a charter middle school.
What does he like to eat?
Per his Twitter bio, Buffalo wings.
Read more about how Amazon is upending business, from A to Z
A version of this article appeared in the November 2021 issue of Fast Company magazine.
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