Dave Brown, Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) stalwart compute services lead, is departing the hyperscaler.
AWS CEO Matt Garman confirmed the departure in a statement, revealing eCommerce Foundation SVP Dave Treadwell will take up the mantle. Brown is leaving to “take on a new role outside of the company,” Garman said, though no official word was given as to where he was departing to.
The departing exec, known by team members as “Tread,” joined AWS in 2007 as a lowly software development engineer in the hyperscaler’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) team based in Cape Town, South Africa. He’d go on to work his way up across several roles, culminating in a leadership role that saw Brown take ownership of compute, AI, and platform organizations for AWS.
“[Brown] has been a big part of what we have built at AWS, and I want to personally thank him for all of his contributions in helping grow and develop the technology, the business, and the team,” the CEO said in a statement.
His replacement and fellow Dave has served as the SVP for the technical infrastructure that has kept Amazon’s commerce efforts running for more than a decade. He joined AWS having spent some 27 years at Microsoft across a handful of leadership roles, including corporate VP for services, encompassing its Identity Division, Windows 10, and Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Treadwell will take over from Brown on August 1, with the departing exec to remain on through July to ease the transition.
“I’ve worked alongside Dave [Treadwell] as part of the S-Team (senior team) for the last five years and seen firsthand how he has advocated for his team, pushed those around him to think differently, driven a culture of operational excellence, and obsessed over his customers,” Garman said. “He brings nearly a decade of global experience running Amazon’s entire technology platform, one of the biggest applications in the world, and has deep expertise in running technology at the same scale we do.”
Commenting on his appointment, Treadwell said: “Even before I joined Amazon ten years ago, I’ve been in awe at the ability of the AWS team to innovate rapidly, to operate at a scale for customers that no one else on the planet can, and to deliver with exceptional service, resilience, and efficiency. I’m very excited to now be part of the team I’ve deeply admired for so long.”