Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Tuesday that he would be stepping down from his post. While he will remain associated with the company, becoming Executive Chair of the Amazon Board, all eyes are now on his successor - Andy Jassy.
"Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence," Bezos wrote in an email to employees.
Presently the CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Jassy has been associated with the company for more than two decades. A lack of technical background had not hampered him. Having graduated with honours from Harvard University, his first job had reportedly been as a project manager for a collectibles company.
Jassy joined Amazon the year it went public, 1997, after getting an MBA from the Harvard Business School. By 2016, he was the CEO of AWS - leading one of the biggest technology infrastructure providers in the world.
Beyond his links to Amazon, Andrew Jassy is also involved in efforts to bring professional hockey into Seattle. He is one of the minority owners of the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League. According to a 2018 report, the sports fan had joined an investor group called Seattle Hockey Partners that aimed to bring an NHL expansion team to Seattle. In mid-2020 the new team finally announced their name. The Seattle Krakens will reportedly join the league for the 2021-22 season.
