Andrew R. Jassy (born January 13, 1968)[5] is an American business executive who is the president and chief executive officer of Amazon. Before being appointed by Jeff Bezos and the Amazon board during the fourth quarter of 2020,[6][7] Jassy had been the SVP and CEO of Amazon Web Services from 2003 to 2021.[8]

Andy Jassy
Jassy in 2021
Born (1968-01-13) January 13, 1968 (age 56)
EducationHarvard University (BA, MBA)
Known forFounding Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Amazon Music[1][2]
TitlePresident and CEO of Amazon
TermJuly 2021–present
PredecessorJeff Bezos
Board member ofAmazon
Spouse
Elana Caplan
(m. 1997)
[3]
Children2[4]
WebsiteAndy Jassy on Twitter
Signature

Early life and education

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Jassy is the son of Margery and Everett L. Jassy of Scarsdale, New York.[3] Of Jewish [9][10]Hungarian ancestry,[9] his father was a senior partner in the corporate law firm Dewey Ballantine in New York City, and chairman of the firm's management committee.[3] Jassy grew up in Scarsdale, and attended Scarsdale High School,[3][11] where he played varsity soccer and tennis.[12]

Jassy graduated cum laude from Harvard College in government, where he was advertising manager of The Harvard Crimson, before earning an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1989, he wrote in The Crimson that the newspaper should continue to publish advertisements from Eastern Air Lines, despite an ongoing labor dispute there.[13][14][15]

Career

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Jassy worked for five years after graduation before entering his MBA program as a project manager for a collectibles company, MBI, and then he and an MBI colleague started a company and closed it down.[14][16]

Jassy joined Amazon as a marketing manager in 1997[12] with several other Harvard MBA colleagues.[16][14] In 2003, he and Jeff Bezos came up with the idea to create the cloud computing platform that became known as Amazon Web Services, which launched in 2006.[17] Jassy headed it and its team of 57 people.[1]

 
Jassy in 2016

In 2016, Jassy was named Person of the Year by the Financial Times.[14] A month later, Jassy was promoted from senior vice president to chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services (AWS).[18][15] That year Jassy earned $36.6 million.[19]

For his work as CEO of AWS, Jassy earned a base compensation of $175,000 in 2020, plus a restricted stock unit award of 4,023 shares (a value of $12,104,844.93 as of July 26, 2020[20]) of Amazon with vesting beginning in 2023. He also received a restricted stock unit award in April 2018 for 10,000 shares (a value of $30,089,100 as of July 26, 2020),[20] which vest 37.5% in 2021, 12.5% in 2022, 37.5% in 2023, and 12.5% in 2024.[21] He was succeeded as CEO of AWS by Adam Selipsky.[22]

In January 2021, Bezos designated Jassy his official successor as CEO;[23] with the transition occurring on July 5, 2021.[24] As CEO of Amazon, Jassy received a ten year pay package totaling $212.7 million. The majority of the compensation package is in stock and vests over 10 years.[25]

Personal life

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In 1997, Jassy married Elana Rochelle Caplan, a fashion designer for Eddie Bauer and graduate of the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, at a Loews Hotel in Santa Monica, California.[3] Their wedding was officiated by New York reform Rabbi James Brandt, a cousin of Elana.[26] Both their fathers were senior partners in law firm Dewey Ballantine.[3] Jassy and Caplan have two children.[4]

They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle in a 10,000-square-foot house bought in 2009 for $3.1 million.[2][27] In October 2020, it was reported that Jassy had bought a $6.7 million 5,500-square-foot house in Santa Monica.[28][29][27]

He is chairman of Rainier Prep, a charter school in Seattle.[30]

References

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  1. ^ a b McLaughlin, Kevin (August 4, 2015). "Andy Jassy: Amazon's $6 Billion Man". CRN. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Andy Jassy: Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO". montgomerysummit. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Elana Caplan And Andrew Jassy". The New York Times. August 24, 1997. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Rao, Leena (June 28, 2015). "How Andy Jassy helped Amazon own the cloud". Fortune.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  5. ^ Long, Katherine Anne (February 6, 2021). "As incoming Amazon CEO Andy Jassy steps into the limelight, a portrait of a leader much like Jeff Bezos emerges". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2024.
  6. ^ Weise, Karen (February 2, 2021). "Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon C.E.O." The New York Times.
  7. ^ Haselton, Todd (February 2, 2021). "Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy to take over in Q3". CNBC.
  8. ^ Eugene, Kim; Stewart, Ashley (January 31, 2021). "Andy Jassy will be the next CEO of Amazon. Insiders dish on what it's like to work for Jeff Bezos' successor who built AWS into a $40 billion business". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Amazon's Next CEO Andy Jassy Is Jewish". The Yeshiva World News. February 7, 2021. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  10. ^ "Amazon's next CEO Andy Jassy is Jewish". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  11. ^ Fishman, Adrienne (September 11, 2014). "Amazon's Andy Jassy '86 to be interviewed by Dr. Hagerman on Tuesday at 8pm". scarsdale10583.com. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Tilley, Aaron (July 2, 2021). "Amazon Primed Andy Jassy to Be CEO. Can He Keep What Jeff Bezos Built?". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  13. ^ "No Eds in Ads | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d Hook, Leslie (March 17, 2016). "Person of the Year: Amazon Web Services' Andy Jassy". Financial Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  15. ^ a b "Andrew Jassy, Amazon.Com Inc: Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  16. ^ a b "Podcast - Forum for Growth & Innovation - Harvard Business School". www.hbs.edu. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  17. ^ Tilley, Aaron (February 2, 2021). "Who Is Andy Jassy? Jeff Bezos Acolyte Moves From Cloud to Amazon CEO". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  18. ^ Novet, Jordan (April 7, 2016). "Andy Jassy is finally named CEO of Amazon Web Services". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  19. ^ Balakrishnan, Anita (April 12, 2017). "The most highly paid Amazon executive isn't the CEO — it's the head of cloud". CNBC. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  20. ^ a b "Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)". Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  21. ^ "Notice of 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders & Proxy Statement" (PDF). May 22, 2020. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  22. ^ "AWS announces next CEO". US About Amazon. March 23, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  23. ^ Hartmans, Avery (November 23, 2021). "Jeff Bezos surprised Andy Jassy by picking him as Amazon CEO: VF". Business Insider. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  24. ^ Palmer, Annie (July 5, 2022). "first year after succeeding Bezos as Amazon CEO". CNBC. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  25. ^ Thorbecke, Catherine (April 1, 2022). "Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's total compensation package topped $212 million". CNN International. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  26. ^ "Meet Elana Rochelle Caplan, Amazon's next CEO Andy Jassy's fashion designer wife who loves traveling". meaww.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021.
  27. ^ a b McClain, James (October 14, 2020). "Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy Buys Prime Santa Monica Home". Archived from the original on February 23, 2021.
  28. ^ Neilson, Susie (February 2, 2021). "Who is Andy Jassy, the Amazon exec who will replace Jeff Bezos as CEO?". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021.
  29. ^ "Amazon's Andy Jassy Buys Santa Monica Home". The Real Deal Los Angeles. October 14, 2020. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021.
  30. ^ "Board". Rainier Prep. Retrieved October 12, 2017.