Rick Dalzell is retiring today after 10 years as Amazon’s CIO. Rick is an exceptional leader, mentor, and friend to me and hundreds of other people privileged to know and work with him.
Jeff Bezos has given Rick a public tribute on the Amazon.com website as an “easter egg”. It can be found by going to the Amazon Sporting Goods Page, scrolling down to the bottom, and looking for the small transparent image at the center.
Ten years ago, when interviewing Rick, I inadvertently tried many techniques to scare him away. First among those: I poured coffee on his shirt within ten minutes of our first meeting. Next, I showed him our fulfillment center. He wasn’t impressed. It’s a great testament to his vision and down-to-earth temperament that he came here anyway. Over the last decade, Rick has been the glue that has held together our engineering organization and driven us to success. He has constantly taken on new roles and brought people along to fill old ones. He has been a coach and mentor to many of us. There’s no replacing Rick — we’ll instead have to figure out how to do it a completely different way.
Rick, we are all super grateful for your many amazing and lasting contributions. Thank you!
Jeff Bezos
November 2007
Congratulations Rick, and thank you!
Technorati Tags: amazon, cio, leadership, rickdalzell