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Former Amazon and Flexport executive Dave Clark is the founder and CEO of Auger, a new supply chain technology startup. (Auger Photo)
Dave Clark isn’t fooling around.
Auger, the supply chain technology startup founded by the former Amazon Worldwide Consumer CEO, named its initial 11-person executive team this week, two months after announcing $100 million in Series A funding.
There’s a common thread among many of Auger’s new executives: Most of them have worked at Amazon, either recently or at some point in the past, in a variety of executive, operational, and technical leadership roles.
Clark told GeekWire that he didn’t set out to hire fellow Amazon alumni, but it was a natural result of factors including the supply chain and data infrastructure expertise among Amazon veterans. He moved back to the Seattle area from Texas to launch the startup out of Bellevue, Wash., due to the regional talent pool.
In several cases, Clark hadn’t worked with some of the new executive hires during his own 23 years at the company, but met them through the extended Amazon network. Ultimately, he said, Auger plans to hire people from a variety of companies and backgrounds. But he also acknowledged the benefits of shared Amazon roots.
“We come from the same family,” he said, and “speak the same language.”
The new hires include:
Russell Allgor, Auger’s chief supply chain scientist. Allgor spent 24 years at Amazon where he was instrumental in fulfillment and network optimization systems, most recently as VP and chief scientist.
Sanjay Dash, chief engineer, who led the creation of Just Walk Out and other AI solutions at Amazon, with 30 years of experience in the tech industry.
AJ Wilhoit, chief product officer, a supply chain expert with more than 20 years of experience, who was instrumental in the launch of Amazon Prime Now and other consumer delivery initiatives.
Alex Ceballos CFO and president, who led Amazon’s acquisition of Kiva Systems and the creation of Amazon Air, and the launch of a $1 billion corporate venture fund, Amazon Industrial Innovation.
Jessica Amato, chief people officer, with experience in human resources, recruiting, and people analytics. She began her career at Amazon and then moved to high-growth startups.
Brian Lent, chief analytics and data officer, who founded and led companies including Medio Systems and Plunk, and co-founded the “Mining Data at Stanford” lab. He established Amazon’s first AI and data mining group.
Clark pointed out that Lent joined Amazon via an acquisition and worked there in the 1998-2001 timeframe, but has a much broader range of experience.
In addition, Parikshit Savjani, Auger’s new vice president of customer success, has not worked at Amazon, having spent 15 years at Microsoft, including work building cloud solutions to streamline database management.
Those two hires give Auger’s technical leadership team a larger set of experiences, beyond Amazon. Clark said the company hasn’t yet decided which cloud technology platform it will use to build its products and services.
Andrew Borthwick, principal scientist. Borthwick has more than 20 years of experience in AI and machine learning. He worked at Amazon as the lead scientist on projects in product demand forecasting and large-scale product classification.
Jared Caldwell, principal user experience. Caldwell has more than 15 years of experience in technology design. He spent nearly 10 years at Amazon, where he worked in design initiatives in areas including logistics, smart home technology, and AI.
Jen White, general counsel. White previously worked at Amazon, where she built and led the legal teams for the company’s drones and air cargo. She has worked more recently as vice president of HR for Alto Pharmacy, and as an executive coach.
Caitlin Dietrich, head of marketing and communications. Dietrich has experience in consumer, business, and government sectors. She previously worked at Amazon, where she advised senior leadership on business and policy issues, and at Jeff Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin.
Auger’s $100 million Series A round came via an investment from venture capital firm Oak HC/FT. The startup plans to offer an AI-powered system that unifies data, targets inefficiencies, provides real-time insights and automation.
Clark said Auger plans to start showing product demos in the late February or early March timeframe, aiming to start offering its product to its first partners and customers in the late spring or early summer.
The company debuted last month at #194 on the GeekWire 200, our ranking of the Pacific Northwest’s top technology startups. It’s unusual for a company so young to crack into the top 200 of the startup index.
