In this episode, Amazon executives Kara Hurst and Sarah Mathew share how they approach some of the most pressing challenges in global business today: climate impact, water scarcity, customer expectations, AI-driven energy demands, and improving delivery across thousands of communities.
BIOS:
Kara Hurst is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Amazon. In this role, she leads the worldwide teams working on environmental sustainability, human rights and social impact across the company. Kara joined Amazon in 2014 to build its sustainability roadmap and led the company’s evolution toward more sustainable operations, transportation, products, and packaging. She also oversees changes in Amazon’s carbon-free energy strategy and efforts around water stewardship, reduced waste, and biodiversity. Under her leadership, Amazon announced its commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040 and co-founded The Climate Pledge, which now has over 550 signatories. Kara holds an undergraduate degree from Barnard College of Columbia University and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the University of California, Berkeley. She serves on the Board of Directors of Water.org and Stolen Youth.
Sarah Mathew is Amazon’s Delivery Experience Vice President, leading a worldwide product and technology organization that builds and enables products, programs, and services that make it easier for customers to control when, where, and how they receive earth’s largest selection. Her team owns all delivery-related CX throughout the customer shopping journey, including the Your Orders page and all delivery-related notifications, and leads programs like Same Day delivery, Amazon Day delivery, No-Rush shipping, and non-Prime shipping. Sarah joined Amazon in 2013 and has held a number of roles within the company, including being part of the founding team for Amazon’s first physical stores and helping launch and lead the free on-site COVID testing program for Amazon frontline employees. Prior to joining Amazon.com, Sarah spent six years in brand management at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and an MBA and an MS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan.
