Receiving your Amazon package is exciting, and you can thank an LGO. MIT LGO’s relationship with Amazon runs right to the top — literally. From front-line managers all the way up to the company’s most senior leadership, Amazon is brimming with LGO alumni, and has been since the 1990s. The e-commerce giant engages in continuous improvement projects, and many LGO internships focus on optimizing supply chain and operations, web services, and Amazon Robotics.
Chuck Cummings (LGO ’14)
Internship location: Seattle, WA
Research topic: Supply chain
Currently:
Director of Central Operations Process Engineering, Amazon, Louisville, KY
Amazon participates in LGO recruitment every year, frequently hiring into their Pathways Leadership Development Program. Employees of the program are Amazon’s next generation of General Managers, Directors, and VPs. In addition, LGOs also have the opportunity to work across Amazon’s portfolio in Amazon Web Services or Amazon Robotics. Recruits start right away as a front-line manager overseeing a team of 50-100 employees.
# of hires in past 5 years: 34
Frequent job titles at hire: Operations Manager, Senior Product Manager, Manager Supply Chain Capacity, Senior Technical Program Manager
Common locations: Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Cambridge, MA; San Francisco, CA
Tom Taylor (LGO ’91)
Senior Vice President, Alexa, Amazon.com
While at LGO: MBA and SM Mechanical Engineering
Previous studies: Virginia Tech, Mechanical Engineering
Tom Taylor joined Amazon in 2000 as Director of Operations – U.S Fulfillment Centers. Since that time, he has held multiple roles at the company, including launching and growing the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program. Tom Taylor currently leads the Amazon Alexa and Echo teams at Amazon. He has responsibility for over 10,000 engineers, scientists, product, business, operations and sales people inventing on behalf of customers to bring Alexa, the cloud-based voice service to tens of millions of devices from Amazon and third-party device manufacturers. Before joining Amazon, Tom spent 15 years in Manufacturing and Plant Management at General Motors and K2 Sports.
Jackie Underberg (LGO ’01)
Director, Worldwide R&D Center
While at LGO: MBA and SM Chemical Engineering
Previous studies: Northwestern University, Chemical Engineering
After a successful management career at HEB Snack Foods, Jackie joined Amazon as a Site Leader of Amazon Fresh in 2010. She then spent time working in an Amazon Fulfillment Center overseeing over 2,000 associates. In her current role, she is a central leader of Amazon’s R&D projects.
Sally Smith (LGO ’12)
Director, AWS Customer Service & Central Support
While at LGO: MBA and SM Engineering Systems
Previous studies: Washington University in St. Louis, Mechanical Engineering
Following the LGO program, Sally led robotic manufacturing development and production system improvement for the 777 and 777X airplanes at The Boeing Company. She then joined Amazon, where she was Director of Fulfillment for Amazon’s flagship robotics fulfillment center. During the COVID pandemic in 2020-2021, Sally served as Director of WorkingWell within Amazon’s workplace health organization, creating and scaling wellness programs for hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide. Currently Sally leads a 2,500-person global organization to deliver technical support to all AWS customers.
David Semko (LGO ’16)
Senior Manager, Amazon Logistics
While at LGO: MBA and SM Engineering Systems
Previous studies: Duke University, Biomedical/Electrical Engineering, and US Naval Postgraduate School, Electrical and Electronics Engineering
David joined LGO after serving as an officer in the US Navy nuclear surface fleet. Following graduation, he joined Amazon through the Pathways Program, and took on increasingly broad operations responsibilities in three different Amazon fulfillment centers. In 2021 he joined the Amazon Logistics organization as a Senior Manager.
