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Tableau CEO picked as new AWS head

Adam Selipsky returns to cloud giant after five years.
Adam Selipsky

Adam Selipsky

Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky has been appointed as the new head of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Andy Jassy's successor as he takes the reins of Amazon from Jeff Bezos.

The appointment sees Selipsky return to the Amazon fold on May 17, from when he will transition into the new role by the third quarter of 2021 — the same timeframe as Jassy’s ascension to the Amazon CEO position.

Selipsky comes back to the cloud giant after previously serving as vice president of marketing, sales and support for AWS, a role he held for 11 years from 2005 to 2016, before moving onto Tableau. 

Before joining AWS, Selipsky was the vice president of general management and marketing at RealNetworks and the principal of Mercer Management Consulting. 

In an email to AWS employees, which was also published online by the cloud giant, Jassy said Selipsky's previous experience means he is familiar with the AWS culture and business. 

“Adam brings strong judgment, customer obsession, team building, demand generation, and CEO experience to an already very strong AWS leadership team," Jassy said. 

“With a US$51 billion revenue run rate that’s growing 28 per cent [year-on-year], it’s easy to forget that AWS is still in the very early stages of what’s possible. Less than five per cent of the global IT spend is in the cloud at this point. That’s going to substantially change in the coming years.  

“We have a lot more to invent for customers, and we have a very strong leadership team and group of builders to go make it happen.” 

When Jassy was announced as the new Amazon CEO, Gartner research vice president and distinguished analyst Ed Anderson hinted that his successor would come from AWS. 

“Andy has led AWS from the beginning, but like Jeff Bezos, [he] has surrounded himself with a highly qualified group of AWS executives. It’s likely that Andy’s successor will be chosen from among that leadership team," he said at the time. 

Although Selipsky isn’t a current member of the AWS team, he has worked with Jassy in the past at the cloud provider, with the two both even presenting at AWS re:Invent back in 2015