Andrew R. Jassy (born January 13, 1968)
is an American business executive who is the
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
and
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
(CEO) of
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
. Before being appointed by
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...
and the Amazon board during the fourth quarter of 2020, Jassy served as the SVP and later as the CEO of
AWS from 2003 to 2021.
Early life and education
Jassy is the son of Margery and Everett L. Jassy of
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...
.
Jewish with
Hungarian ancestry,
his father was a senior partner in the
corporate law firm
Dewey Ballantine
Dewey Ballantine LLP was a corporate law firm headquartered in New York City. In 2007, Dewey Ballantine merged with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae to form Dewey & LeBoeuf. Dewey Ballantine underwent numerous name changes throughout its history ...
in New York City, and chairman of the firm's management committee. Jassy grew up in
Scarsdale, and attended
Scarsdale High School
Scarsdale High School (SHS) is a public high school in Scarsdale, New York, United States, a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York. It is a part of the Scarsdale Union Free School District.
The school was founded in 1917. ...
, where he played varsity soccer and tennis.
Jassy graduated
cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in government, where he was advertising manager of ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
'', before earning an MBA from
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
. In 1989, he wrote in ''The Crimson'' that the newspaper should continue to publish advertisements from
Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Ea ...
, despite an ongoing
labor dispute
A labor dispute is a disagreement between an employer and employees regarding the terms of employment. This could include disputes regarding conditions of employment, fringe benefits, hours of work, tenure, and wages to be negotiated during ...
there.
Career
Jassy worked for five years after graduation before entering his MBA program as a project manager for a
collectible
A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...
s company,
MBI MBI may refer to:
*MBI (Michigan Biotechnology Institute), a non-profit research accelerator
* Machaneh Bonim in Israel, a tour of Israel by Habonim Dror
*Management buy-in, of a large interest in a company
*Maslach Burnout Inventory, a scale for b ...
, and then he and an MBI colleague started a company and closed it down.
Jassy joined Amazon as a marketing manager in 1997
with several other Harvard MBA colleagues.
In 2003, he and
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...
came up with the idea to create the
cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
platform that became known as
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Amazon that provides Software as a service, on-demand cloud computing computing platform, platforms and Application programming interface, APIs to individuals, companies, and gover ...
, which launched in 2006.
Jassy headed it and its team of 57 people.
In March 2016, Jassy was named Person of the Year by the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
''.
A month later, Jassy was promoted from senior vice president to chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services. That year Jassy earned $36.6 million.
For his work as chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services, Jassy earned a base compensation of $175,000 in 2020, plus a
restricted stock
Restricted stock, also known as restricted securities, is stock of a company that is not fully transferable (from the stock-issuing company to the person receiving the stock award) until certain conditions (restrictions) have been met. Upon satisfa ...
unit award of 4,023 shares (a value of $12,104,844.93 as of July 26, 2020
) of Amazon with
vesting
In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...
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),
which vest 37.5% in 2021, 12.5% in 2022, 37.5% in 2023, and 12.5% in 2024.
In January 2021, Bezos designated Jassy his official successor as CEO; the announcement was made on February 2 during Q4's earnings release. The transition was scheduled for Q3 2021, and on May 26
July 5 was confirmed as the handover date. Jassy assumed the office on the same day as Bezos had founded the company in 1994.
During his first year running Amazon, he received a pay package of $212.7 million, a substantial increase from his 2020 compensation.
Personal life
In 1997, Jassy married Elana Rochelle Caplan, a fashion designer for
Eddie Bauer
Eddie Bauer, LLC is an American clothing store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Eddie Bauer sells its merchandise via retail stores, outlet stores, and online and via phone, with a call center in Groveport, Ohio. Its flagship store is ...
and graduate of the
Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science
Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...
, at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
. Their wedding was officiated by New York Rabbi James Brandt, a cousin of Elana. Both their fathers were senior partners in law firm
Dewey Ballantine
Dewey Ballantine LLP was a corporate law firm headquartered in New York City. In 2007, Dewey Ballantine merged with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae to form Dewey & LeBoeuf. Dewey Ballantine underwent numerous name changes throughout its history ...
. Jassy and Caplan have two children.
They live in the
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
neighborhood of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
in a 10,000-square-foot house bought in 2009 for $3.1 million.
In October 2020, it was reported that Jassy had bought a $6.7 million 5,500-square-foot house in Santa Monica.
He is chairman of Rainier Prep, a
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...
in Seattle.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jassy, Andy
1968 births
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
Amazon (company) people
20th-century American Jews
American technology chief executives
Businesspeople from New York (state)
Businesspeople from Seattle
Harvard Business School alumni
Living people
People from Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale High School alumni
The Harvard Crimson people
American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
21st-century American Jews
American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies
Seattle Kraken owners