Amazon hosted its inaugural Future Innovator Summit at the ATL2 Robotics Facility in Stone Mountain on Friday morning. Over 50 Atlanta-area college students got the opportunity to hear from Amazon leadership, tour the state-of-the-art robotics facility, and participate in student programming geared toward preparing the next generation of leaders in operations and logistics.
The summit featured a panel with Amazon leadership, including Sandy Gordon, the global vice president of employee experience and relations; Tony Vozzolo, the ATL2 director of operations and general manager; and Kawanne Clark, senior HR manager at ATL2. 11Alive News anchor Faith Jessie moderated the discussion. The future engineers, business leaders, founders, and creatives gained insight into the skills Amazon seeks in young talent, and what it’s like to be on the front line of operations.
“Have grit. Be hungry. Be customer-obsessed. Look at our leadership principles around here. That’s all we’re looking for,” Vozzolo advised. “What we’re looking for is, do you care? Do you take care of your team? You take care of your people? Are you hungry? You want to go out there and innovate and explore.”
Gordon also discussed her experience rising in the ranks as a woman in the STEM field, sharing that she would often be the only woman in the room when she started. She noted that in Amazon’s operations, women represent 49.2% of the workforce, nearly half. According to the World Economic Forum, women comprised only 28.2% of the STEM global workforce in 2024.
“This is a space where it may not seem conventional wisdom to take a STEM background and come into the operations, but it’s not just that it’s a place for you to come and grow; it is a place for you to thrive if you’re a female,” Gordon said. “When you’re able to come into an environment where there are other women as leaders, you can see what you can do.”
Lauryn Carter, a senior industrial engineering major at Georgia Tech, is the first in her family to go to college. She said student-focused events like the Future Innovator Summit allow her to connect with like-minded students and gain experience and insight into her future career.
“Being a future innovator as a first-generation student means setting the pathway for my family. Being from a small town, there are not really any opportunities there, so just branching out and really exploring opportunities and networking to build those connections is very important to me.”