AWS’ National Security GM Exits To Become CEO Of Meadowgate

AWS’ general manager for national security has left to become CEO of solution provider Meadowgate Technologies, which focuses on the federal government.

Amazon Web Services’ national security leader, Tom Lash, has left to become the CEO of federal-government-focused solution provider Meadowgate Technologies.

The six-year AWS executive, whose title was general manager for national security and federal delivery, departed the $85 billion cloud computing market leader earlier this month.

Lash’s departure from AWS comes as Amazon this month said it will lay off 9,000 employees, including many at AWS. The Seattle-based cloud giant has declined CRN’s request to say how many AWS employees will be laid off or which departments would see employee cuts.

Meadowgate’s new CEO said he’ll be “driving a new growth strategy to create a market leader in hybrid tech solutions” for the national security community. “Looking forward to working with a great group of teammates to build a business at the forefront of digital transformation for national security clients,” Lash said in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.

[Related: Amazon’s AWS Layoffs: 5 Things To Know About ‘Devastating’ Cuts]

Lash’s LinkedIn post has received nearly 200 comments, many from former AWS colleagues.

“How lucky they are to have a leader, visionary, and true gentleman on their team!” said Francis Lukenbill, senior sales executive at AWS, on LinkedIn. “Can’t wait to find ways to work with you again.”

“You’re a rock star and I look forward to crossing your path again,” said Kim Bartoe, strategic planning and execution manager for national security at AWS.

Lash said his experience at AWS was “nothing short of an epic journey, and I loved every minute of it.”

Lash Will ‘Spearhead’ New Strategy At Meadowgate

Founded in 2006, Meadowgate Technologies is a solution provider focused on the federal government sector. The Trenton, N.J.-based company partners with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Dell EMC, VMware, Oracle and Nvidia, to name a few.

Meadowgate specializes in systems engineering, IT consulting and product procurement to meet the unique needs of each federal agency or industry customer.

Lash will “spearhead” a new strategy to build a market leader in hybrid solutions and services for the national security community, said Meadowgate in a statement. The company’s new strategy centers on aligning with the national security community’s growing demand for scalable systems architectures and capabilities that enable seamless movement of data and workloads within hybrid environments.

This growth strategy will involve expanding Meadowgate’s capabilities in product integration, solution development and hybrid workload development, migration and management—both organically and via acquisition.

“Importantly for me, our shared vision aligns with the growing customer demand for the operational agility and security that advanced hybrid solutions can deliver,” said Lash in a statement. “I’m really looking forward to working with the team to build a business at the forefront of digital transformation in the federal market.”

Meadowgate’s co-founders—Brian and Leslie Cooleen—will continue with the company as part of the executive leadership team focusing on new business development initiatives and oversight of the company’s support functions.

AWS Layoffs

This month, Amazon said it will be laying off 9,000 employees, including many from AWS.

“We intend to eliminate about 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks—mostly in AWS, PXT, Advertising, and Twitch,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in a recent message to employees. “This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company’s long term.”

In a statement to CRN, AWS said the layoffs are based on “reprioritization decisions.”

“The role reductions in AWS were driven by reprioritization decisions, which required us to reallocate resources,” said an AWS spokesperson to CRN. “In most cases this involved people shifting projects, priorities, or teams, but in some cases we didn’t have the right skill match for these priorities.”