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 ...

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 especiall ...

(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 technolog ...

. 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 presi ...

and the Amazon board during the fourth quarter of 2020, Jassy served as the SVP and later as the CEO of

AWS Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide d ...

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 in New York City, and chairman of the firm's management committee. Jassy grew up in Scarsdale, and attended Scarsdale High School, 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 ...

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 ...

. 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. E ...

, despite an ongoing labor dispute 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, 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

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 mu ...

platform that became known as

Amazon Web Services Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide d ...

, which launched in 2006. Jassy headed it and its team of 57 people. Andy Jassy in 2016

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, 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 ...

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: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

. 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. 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 region o ...

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 autono ...

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