James Carney, senior vice president of global corporate affairs at Amazon, speaks with EU officials on February 1, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium.
Thierry Monasse | Corbis News | Getty Images
Airbnb patted Jay Carney, from Amazon senior spokesperson, to serve as the new head of policy and communications.
Carney will start at Airbnb in September and report to CEO Brian Chesky, the company said Friday. He will be based in Washington, D.C.
Carney joined Amazon in 2015 after serving as White House press secretary under President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2014. Prior to that, he spent 20 years as a political reporter at Time Magazine.
As Amazon’s head of public policy and communications, Carney quickly has grown in importance within the company. He was part of Jeff Bezos‘S-team elite and stayed there when Andy Jassy took over as CEO last year. One of Carney’s main jobs was to help guide Amazon’s relationship with Capitol Hill lawmakers.
For Jassy, the move marks the latest high-profile exit at a time when the company faces a host of challenges, ranging from soaring inflation and internal labor disputes to regulatory struggles in the United States. and in Europe. In June, 23-year-old Amazon veteran Dave Clark resigned as Head of Retail. And two prominent black leaders — chief operating officer Dave Bozeman and Alicia Boler-Davis, senior vice president of global customer satisfaction — as well. announcement their departures in June.
Carney oversaw Amazon’s large public relations team, which often involved leading the company’s response to external scrutiny, especially under the Trump administration, who was a frequent Amazon reviewer. He played a pivotal role in the company’s ill-fated negotiations for a second headquarters in Long Island City.
“Jay has worked at the highest levels of government and technology, as a strategic advisor to the president, and at one of the largest technology companies in the world,” Chesky said in a statement. “When you combine that with his two decades in the field as a journalist, he brings a deep understanding of the needs of multiple stakeholders.”
In a memo to Amazon staff obtained by CNBC, Carney said his time at Amazon “exceeded my expectations” and noted that the teams he led were in “very good hands.”
“Together, you will all continue to make Amazon a company that does great, positive things for its customers, employees, and communities around the world,” Carney wrote.
CNBC also viewed a memo Jassy sent to employees announcing Carney’s departure. In the memo, he told staff the company would “immediately begin a search” for Carney’s replacement.
Here is Jassy’s note:
I wanted to let you know that Jay Carney, who has led Global Corporate Affairs for the past seven years, has decided to leave Amazon at the end of August to pursue other opportunities.
Since joining the company in 2015, Jay has developed and led the public policy and public relations teams across all of our businesses and geographies with the overarching goal of ensuring that policymakers, journalists and customers are all accurately informed about Amazon’s contributions to economic growth, jobs, creation, innovation and sustainability – as well as our unparalleled focus on customers. Over the years, Jay has frequently represented Amazon in meetings with Heads of State and Government and other senior leaders around the world. He also launched and oversaw Amazon in the Community, the first company-wide organization dedicated to community engagement and philanthropy. Jay came to Amazon after spending 5½ years in the Obama White House; and before that, worked as a journalist for more than two decades. Please join me in thanking Jay for his many significant accomplishments on behalf of Amazon customers and employees, for helping us develop a strong set of public policy and public relations capabilities, and in wishing him well. luck in his future projects.
We will immediately begin a search for Jay’s replacement. In the interim, Brian Huseman, Susan Pointer and Michael Punke will report to David Zapolsky, and Drew Herdener will report to me.
Andy
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