Two black executives at Amazon are leaving the company, the e-commerce juggernaut confirmed Tuesday, hours after CEO Andy Jassy appointed a new head for the company’s ailing retail business.
Alicia Boler Davis, the senior vice president who oversees the company’s warehouses, and David Bozeman, Amazon’s vice president of transportation services, have decided to “explore new opportunities outside of Amazon,” according to John Felton, an Amazon executive who oversees the The company’s business handles organization, said in an email to employees. Boler Davis’ departure means there are no more black executives on Amazon’s executive team, which has been criticized for a lack of diversity.
“They have scaled our operations, introduced new skills and programs, and demonstrated relentless passion to make our operations better every day,” Felton said in the email.
Amazon did not provide further details on the reasons behind the two executives’ exit from the company and could not be immediately reached for comment.
News of her departure comes after an announcement by Jassy earlier in the day that Doug Herrington will become the new CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, the company’s former “consumer” division, which has arrived with an oversupply following a massive expansion during the pandemic storage space is struggling . Jassy also previously announced that Amazon’s operations organization would be unified under Felton, who will manage the company’s warehousing and supply networks and report to Herrington.
Herrington assumes this role after seven years leading the company’s North American consumer business. He replaces Dave Clark, who announced his surprise departure from the company earlier this month after 23 years. Days later, Clark said he would join logistics startup Flexport as the new CEO in September.
In a note to employees later posted to the company’s website, Jassy said Herrington is “a builder of great teams and brings extensive retail, grocery, demand generation, product development and Amazon experience.”
The move comes as Jassy seeks to give the Seattle-based company back a “healthy level of profitability” amid rising costs and a slowdown in demand that has left the e-commerce giant with too many employees and warehouse space.
Amazon saw its profits soar during most of the pandemic as shoppers turned to buying goods online on their way home. In response, the company massively expanded its storage capacity.
But as COVID-19 cases eased, so did demand. The company now expects excess space to contribute $10 billion in additional costs in the first half of 2022. To mitigate some of these costs, it has reportedly planned to terminate some of its leases and sublet storage space.
Herrington joined Amazon’s senior leadership team in 2011, six years after joining the company, to build the consumer packaged goods business, a group focused on consumer packaged goods. In 2007 he founded Amazon Fresh.
Boler Davis joined Amazon in 2019 from General Motors, where she also served as an executive. She oversaw arguably one of the company’s most contentious areas – warehouses, where workers routinely complained of poor working conditions and high injury rates. The frustration led to a labor victory in April in a union election at a warehouse on Staten Island, New York. The company is currently attempting to repeat the vote.
Bozeman joined Amazon in 2017 from Caterpillar, where he served as senior vice president.