Baskar Sridharan, a former vice president at Google, has joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the vice president leading the AI/ML Services and Infrastructure team. Sridharan brings with him over five years of experience managing various Google Cloud engineering teams and nearly 16 years at Microsoft. In a LinkedIn post, Sridharan expressed his excitement about joining AWS, calling it the best place in the world to build AI applications. This move comes amidst the announcement that AWS CEO Adam Selipsky will step down and be replaced by longtime exec Matt Garman.
Marc Whitten, the chief product and technology officer at Unity Software, is resigning effective June 1. Whitten, who joined Unity in 2021 after leading Amazon’s entertainment devices division for over four years, has a background that includes being the chief product officer at Sonos and spending 17 years at Microsoft. Alongside Whitten, PitchBook CEO and founder John Gabbert is also departing after 17 years with the Seattle-based financial data company. Gabbert expressed pride in the company’s success and the impact it has had, serving hundreds of thousands of customers and creating nearly 4,000 jobs.
Amazon has moved its Sustainability organization, led by Chief Sustainability Officer Kara Hurst, to the Global Communications & Community Impact organization overseen by Drew Herdener, senior vice president. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emphasized the importance of partnering with various teams across the company for success in sustainability. Hurst, who joined Amazon in 2014 after serving as CEO at The Sustainability Consortium and an executive at BSR for nearly 12 years, brings a wealth of experience to her new role within the company’s organizational structure.
Josh Hug, co-founder of Remitly, is transitioning from his role as chief operating officer to vice chair. Hug will continue to serve on the board of the digital remittance company, which he helped start in 2011. Additionally, Brittany Jarnot, public policy manager at the Washington Technology Industry Association, is stepping down to take on a government affairs role at Salesforce. Jarnot’s background includes working for the U.S. House of Representatives before joining WTIA in 2021.
Kenny Daniel, co-founder of Seattle-based machine learning startup Algorithmia, has joined Madrona as an entrepreneur-in-residence. Daniel was previously the CTO at DataRobot, which acquired Algorithmia in 2021. Another notable departure is Ron Miller, who stepped down from his senior engineering position at Starbucks. Miller has a background that includes working for Nordstrom and founding a startup called URGravity. Overall, these leadership changes reflect the dynamic nature of the tech industry and the talent mobility within it.
