Jeff Bezos has a new “shadow.”
According to his LinkedIn bio, former VP of Kindle Jeffrey Helbling has taken over the role of technical advisor to Amazon‘s CEO, a coveted position that involves shadowing and advising Bezos around the clock. The news was originally reported by The Information.
Helbling was the VP in charge of Amazon’s Kindle division for five years, before which he spent almost 15 years at management consultant McKinsey & Co. He also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army and holds degrees from the West Point military academy and Harvard Business School.
Past shadows have gone on to be powerful players within the company, including Andy Jassy, who now heads AWS, and Amit Agarwal, who leads Amazon India.
Maria Renz, Bezos’s previous shadow and the first and only woman to hold the position, is now serving as “VP of delivery experience,” according to her LinkedIn bio.
— 3D printer manufacturer Glowforge announced the addition of Amazon vet Spencer Worley as the company’s VP of hardware engineering.
Worley previously worked as VP of engineering at electronics and robotics manufacturer Sphero, and formerly served as director of engineering at both Amazon and Amazon Labs126, the company behind Amazon devices like the Kindle and the Echo.
In a recent blog post, Glowforge CEO Dan Shapiro described Worley as “an industry veteran who’s created products ranging from the Amazon Echo to the Sphero BB-8 robot.”
Worley joins the company as it prepares to launch its long-delayed 3D printers, which kicked off with a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign in 2015.
— Just a week after announcing the company’s new CEO, Appuri has added new executive leadership: T-Mobile vet Paul Judy, who joins the company as its chief marketing officer. His addition was announced by executive search firm The Laurel Group.
Judy comes to Appuri, a startup using big data to predict and avoid customer dissatisfaction, after five years as the VP of marketing and customer success at Talentwise, where he worked with Appuri’s new CEO, Todd Owens. Judy previously spent seven years in various marketing roles at T-Mobile.
“Paul brings not only a rich marketing background, but also first-hand experience leading customer success teams. He understands the importance of being data-driven and the power of the Appuri platform,” Appuri co-founder and CTO Damon Danieli told GeekWire in an email.
— Sound Transit, which provides express bus and rail transportation in the greater Seattle area, announced the addition of Julie Honeywell as the company’s Chief Human Resources Officer.
Honeywell has two decades of experience in human resources leadership, and joins the company as it greatly expands services following the success of the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure in the November election.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Sound Transit and looking forward to expand the agency’s talent programs to provide rich career experiences and drive positive results for our employees and, ultimately, the communities we serve,” Honeywell said. “My passion lies in unleashing the potential of others as our success is only realized through our people. Human Resources’ goal will be to ensure we have the best and brightest to deliver our mission of connecting people to where they live, work and play.”
