Amazon has made a step towards improving its diversity in the executive ranks. Alicia Boler Davis will be the first black executive and fourth female to join the elite S-team or senior team at the trillion dollar company.
Previously, Boler Davis was the head of global manufacturing at General Motors (GM) before serving one year as Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment.
“While she was at General Motors, Alicia and I were introduced by a mutual friend and agreed to have lunch,” Jeff Wilke, second-in-command and CEO of Worldwide Consumer at Amazon, said in a memo to employees. “I was so impressed with her leadership experience, technical acumen, and especially her dedication to the workers on the shop floor — I was sure we shared the same instincts.”
Boler Davis will be added to the S-team, along with two other executives, Dave Treadwell, head of eCommerce Foundation, and John Felton, head of global delivery services. The three additions will be joining a group of 22 executives, rounding out the S-team to 25 total leaders.
The S-team, which often conducts meetings to share ideas, is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ group of in-house advisors that run the various operations of Amazon. The change in the number of S-team executives comes as Wilke plans his exit from Amazon in 2021 after about two decades at the company. Dave Clark will be taking over his position.
As a black member, Boler Davis being added to the S-team will only account for less than 1 percent of the team having black representation. This is despite more than 25 percent of the company’s lower level workforce consisting of black employees.
One suggestion is that Amazon integrate an employee-to-executive pipeline program where employees gain experience in a rotational plan that exposes them to various areas of business operations.
Externally, Amazon can make more efforts in creating marketing plans and attractive salary and benefit packages that will appeal to a more diverse pool of candidates for managerial positions.
As McDonald’s and Sprite has done for several years, Amazon could create campaigns directly for the black, latino and asian communities and even conduct recruitment fairs in collaboration with black student organizations at HBCUs and several other colleges. It would be a start.
