Amazon has looked to the White House for their new senior vice president for worldwide corporate affairs, hiring a former staff member of President Barack Obama.
Jay Carney, former press secretary will oversee the Internet retailer’s public relations and lobbying efforts and will report directly to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. Amazon’s top public relations official Craig Berman will report to Carney, as will Paul Misener, who leads the company’s lobbying efforts.
Carney was Obama’s press secretary until June, holding the position for more than three years, He has also worked for CNN as a political commentator, a job he is relinquishing to join Amazon, said the website Politico, which first reported the news about Carney’s hiring.
Carney, who started his new job on March 2, will split his time between Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle and its office in Washington, D.C.
Carney, who is married to ABC News correspondent Claire Shipman, began his career in journalism. He was hired as a reporter for the Miami Herald in 1987, then joined Timemagazine as its Miami bureau chief in 1989.
Later, Carney worked as a correspondent in Time’s Moscow bureau, covering the collapse of the USSR. He came to Washington in 1993 to cover the White House under then President Bill Clinton.
Carney wrote and reported on the president of George W. Bush and was one of a handful of reporters aboard Air Force One with the president on Sept. 11, 2001. He worked in Time’sWashington bureau from 2003 to 2008, first as deputy chief and then as chief.
A Yale University graduate from northern Virginia, Carney shifted from the private to public sector in 2008, serving as director of communications for Vice President Joe Biden. He replaced Robert Gibbs as Obama’s spokesman in February 2011.
Carney joins several notable political figures who have transitioned to the technology industry. David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign and served as one of his senior advisers, joined Uber last year to help the ride-hailing startup as it fights off resistance from some local governments.
Lisa Jackson, the former Environment Protection Agency administrator, went to Apple in 2013 to head the company’s environmental practices.
Carney’s hiring comes as Amazon tries to pressure Washington to allow it to use delivery drones for delivery goods purchased online. The Federal Aviation Administration recently proposed new regulations viewed as a setback to Amazon’s plans to use the unmanned aerial vehicles.
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