Author Profile

David Dorf is a Worldwide Retail Specialist at AWS where he assists retailers with go-to-market strategies. Before he joined AWS, David developed retail technology systems at Infor Retail, Oracle Retail, 360Commerce, Circuit City, AMF Bowling, and Schlumberger’s retail and banking divisions. David spent several years working with NRF-ARTS on technology standards, and he continues to support the Retail Orphan Initiative charity. He holds degrees from Virginia Tech and Penn State.

Alla Simoneau is Worldwide Growth Segments Leader of AWS Digital Innovation. Alla oversees a global organization of Business Development leaders to enable customers from large enterprises, small and medium businesses, and private equity firms to engage in developing new digital products and services leveraging Amazon’s approach to innovation. Prior to AWS, Alla led the North America Business Development organization at AmazonFresh and began her career with Amazon, leading several Retail Marketplace categories. Prior to Amazon, she worked at General Electric, leading commercial, operational, and finance initiatives across the renewable energy space. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Alla lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with her husband and daughter. She earned her MBA from Stern School of Business, New York University, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Connecticut.

Dan Slater oversees Culture of Innovation as a part of the AWS Digital Innovation team, which uses methodologies inspired by Amazon’s innovation mechanisms to help customers develop and deliver new solutions on AWS. Dan joined Amazon in 2006 to launch the company’s first direct-to-customer digital content offerings. He helped launch the Kindle device and Kindle’s global content marketplaces, as well as Amazon’s self-publishing service, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). After overseeing the digital business of the top 60 trade publishers, Dan led content acquisition, demand generation, and vendor relations for KDP. Prior to Amazon, Dan was a Senior Acquisitions Editor at Simon & Schuster and Penguin and led sales for a publishing IT firm (Vista, now Ingenta). Born in Toronto, Canada, Dan lives in Seattle with his wife and two children. He earned his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and completed a dual Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University.