Microsoft puts ex-Amazon VP in charge of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations, including data centers

Last week Microsoft put an ex-Amazon.com VP in charge of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations.  I’ve had e-mail conversations on the changes with lots of people asking questions, but I couldn’t write anything.  Well, now I can blog something because of public disclosure.  Suresh Kumar, VP of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations updated his LinkedIn profile.

Last week Suresh’s linkedin profile only showed Suresh’s Amazon experience even though he had been at Microsoft for months and his job change to Microsoft was not added yet.

 

VP, Worldwide Retail Systems and Retail Services

Amazon

August 2008 – May 2014 (5 years 10 months)Greater Seattle Area

As the Vice President of Worldwide Retail Systems, managed a global team of 500 engineers across seven locations, including four Vice Presidents of Technology and twelve Engineering Directors. Responsible for technology that powers core retail functions such as pricing, promotions, catalog and vendor management for all Amazon properties worldwide. Responsible for all aspects of technology, including program management, software development, testing, support, operations and business analytics. 

As the Retail CTO, responsible for establishing software architecture standards, and maintaining consistency in hiring and leveling of senior engineering talent across all retail divisions. Responsible for setting architecture direction for all Amazon retail subsidiaries and integrating subsidiaries into the Amazon technology stack.

As head of Retail Services, currently managing a team of 2000 associates across nine centers and twenty product imaging studios worldwide, responsible for creating and maintaining all item information, including item images for products sold by Amazon retail.

Now there are these two entries.

Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure and Operations

Microsoft
October 2014 – Present (1 month)Redmond, WA

Responsible for designing, building and operating the infrastructure that power's Microsoft's cloud; the engineering systems required for automating and optimizing the processes associated with the planning and management of the cloud infrastructure.

Corporate Vice President

Microsoft
June 2014 – September 2014 (4 months)Redmond, WA

There are many more details, but the above is all I could find that has been published.  

Will be interesting to see how Suresh does in his role at Microsoft. He has a background that is different than many and I didn’t find any data center experience in his background.

Princeton University

PhD, Engineering
1987 – 1992
1983 – 1987
...
· Ten patents on work related to mobile computers. Three patents on collaborative computing, one on cryptography and one on electronic auctions. Several patent applications on e-commerce are pending.