Bezos and Boyle
Jeff Bezos at a space conference in Los Angeles in May. (Keith Zacharski / In The Barrel Photo)

Jeff Bezos has appointed a veteran Amazon manager as his new technical adviser, also known as his “shadow”: Wei Gao, the company’s former vice president of forecasting.

Gao has been with Amazon for 13 years and has held positions on the company’s Kindle and eCommerce teams before becoming a leader in forecasting, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Gao is only the second woman to be appointed to the role. According to CNBC, she is also of Chinese descent, making her the first Asian-American woman in the position.

Bezos’ “shadows” closely follow the CEO and assist him in day-to-day work. They often go on to become high-ranking executives within the company.

In 2015, Maria Renz became the first woman to hold the adviser role. She’s now Amazon’s vice president of delivery experience.

Previous “shadows” have included Andy Jassy, who runs Amazon Web Services; Amit Agarwal, who runs Amazon India; Greg Hart, who runs the Amazon Echo division; and Ian Freed, who played a key role in Amazon’s Kindle, Echo and Fire Phone devices and is now CEO of Seattle-based Bamboo Learning.

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