Upcoming Amazon CEO Andy Jassy will replace Jeff Bezos on July 5th (GeekWIre Photo / Todd Bishop)
Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy will join the company’s board of directors as he takes over Jeff Bezos as Amazon’s new CEO on July 5, the company said in a new filing on Friday.
Jassy, who joined Amazon in 1997 and has headed AWS since its inception, becomes Amazon’s eleventh CEO. The company currently has six men and four women on its 10-person board.
Jassy takes over Amazon as CEO on Monday. Bezos remains Executive Chairman.
Amazon also said today that Jassy will also receive 61,000 shares of common stock valued at more than $ 200 million as part of its promotion. His total stake in the company will be in excess of $ 500 million.
Companies are increasingly challenged to increase diversity on the board. In 2018, amid staff backlash and public criticism from Black and Hispanic members of Congress, Amazon passed a new policy to include “a list of various candidates, including women and minorities” for future board appointments. The company said at the time it had merely formalized its existing practice.
Amazon added two women of color to its board of directors in 2019. One of the women, former Starbucks executive Rosalind Brewer, left the board this year after assuming a role as CEO of Walgreens.
The other board members at Amazon are Bezos; Keith Alexander; Jamie Gorelick; Daniel Huttenlocher; Judith McGrath; Indra Nooyi; Jonathan Rubinstein; Thomas Ryder; Patricia Stonesifer; and Wendell weeks.
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