Q&A With Alex Rethore, Director, Business Development and Business Coach Program, DSP

Everyone, meet?Alexandra Rethore! Alex has been at Amazon for 3+ years and is the Director of?Business?Development?and the?Business?Coach?Program?for our Amazon Delivery Service Partner (DSP)?program?in North America. Alex's team sources and supports independent small?business?owners throughout their lifecycle with the?DSP?program?from application to?account?management. Alex and her team work hard to ensure reliable capacity to the Amazon network, so we can continue to Earn Trust with our customers.

Thanks for sharing your Amazon story with us, Alex!

What accomplishment at Amazon are you most proud of?

I lead a team of Business Coaches across North America. Our job is to support the array of independent owner operators known as Delivery Service Partners (DSPs). The Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program is designed to empower owner operators who want to launch and operate their own business delivering packages on behalf of Amazon customers. During the pandemic, we had few opportunities to connect with our owners in person regionally; this feat has never been more important of a pursuit, as we arise in a post-pandemic culture.

This April, my team kicked off an exciting regional event series for our DSP's called Ignite on the Road. The purpose of this initiative is to bring DSP's network-wide to connect, celebrate the many ways our owners contribute in their communities, and to problem solve in an effort to improve the overall program. We ended up hosting 42, two-day events over 85 days across North America. In those 85 days, we drove thousands of conversations and connections. Collectively, we also helped the communities in which we operate by raising money in donations to extend to local charities. The outcome of the event(s) produced high satisfaction scores from both DSP owners and Amazonians, many of whom have already begun inquiring about the next event. I have never felt more connected to our owner communities, humbled by their passion for the work they do and the possibilities in continuing to build our last mile delivery network.

What excites you about your team and your role?

I like seeing my team establish, pilot, and scale new things to drive change for our Delivery Service Partners. And, it’s my job to amplify those creative ideas and help the team bring them to life. For example, one of my team members spearheaded an initiative - driven by his previous time serving in the military - to institute a recognition program targeting DSP owners’ performance and community leadership. This program recently awarded an outstanding owner who has safely delivered over 7.5m packages, working out of a Maryland station, on his 4-year anniversary with the DSP program. Even more, this owner began mentoring a struggling DSP within the wider region, and within several weeks, consistent improvement and engagement within the program was yielded as a result. This recognition program has had a clear impact thus far, and has been instrumental for our team to celebrate our DSP partners and their many contributions.

What is cool about the Amazon office?

My NYC team just moved into a new Amazon office in the historic Lord & Taylor building in midtown this month! After working out of various co-working buildings in the city over the last few years, it’s great to now have our own Amazon space. The team is already loving the bright café space and outdoor terrace with its garden and dog run. While my wider team comes into the office monthly, our team’s actual “office” is usually in the field, working alongside our owners. Owners operate out of delivery stations across North America and those are the places we visit to make sure our partners and operating colleagues have the support needed to be successful. This has provided and fostered the power of in-person connection and problem-solving!

What do you do for fun/work life balance?

Finding balance can be tough in our work! The business owners delivering our packages for last mile operate 7 days a week/360 days a year and we are there to support them when they need us. For me, given the pace, particularly as we ramp for big events like Prime Day and Peak, it’s super important to carve out space to get up from my laptop and move every day. I am still very much a fitness nut. These days, I love to hit the tennis ball, sweat it out in a hot yoga studio, and return to my ballet roots in barre class. During the summer, I try to spend as much time as I can on Block Island (in Rhode Island) with my family (I’m one of 7 siblings so it’s often a busy house). I am also a dog mom to a rescue pup who I like to take on adventures - this summer, we are walking the beach as much as possible so he can chase birds and his frisbee and sniff all the things.

What is your favorite leadership principle and why?

As a former start-up executive who spent a decade building and scaling new businesses, Think Big is my favorite Amazon Leadership Principle (LP). To me, it’s fun to break down a sticky problem into smaller parts, recognize patterns (often from other jobs or experiences), and apply those insights to cook up new things. A great example of building our Think Big muscle was creating a Think Big workshop as part of our Ignite on the Road series where we asked our owners to come together in small groups and workshop ideas about how to address some of the specific challenges they have in their delivery areas. It was cool to see owners drawing on their extensive experience to share what they are doing to solve challenges in their current businesses as well as what blue sky ideas they have for automation or other process solutions. We came away from these workshops with a big library of Think Big ideas that we are evaluating now to see what we can scale further and invest Amazon resources behind!

Best place you have ever traveled?

As an adventure traveler, my favorite trip was making it to the top of the world climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with my big brother, Kevin. We went to Tanzania in January 2015 for a 7-day hike with the help of guides and porters. We started hiking in the rainforest, moving under a canopy of long green, mossy branches and trees out of a fairytale. We settled into what would become a ritual of “water for washing,” tea time, singing, big meals, and deep sleep. We hiked to Shiva camp over rocky, steep terrain with stunning views. We were amazed at what our porters could carry. Our guides, Emmanuel and Veda, helped us with our Swahili words each day. It was a good way to break the quiet of walking for hours. We crossed the Shiva plateau, moving from the western side up to Lava Tower before coming down to Barranco camp. Conditions turned cold with snow and fog. The cadence of our days were “pole, pole” - slowly, slowly - allowing our bodies to acclimate to the elevation. We hiked up Barranco Wall before carrying on across the southern part of the mountain. We hiked steep slate to Barafu camp (“ice” at 15,331 ft). It was zuri sana ("very beautiful"). On the final push, we rose at 11:30pm and began the final ascent by headlamp. Before we set out, I remember seeing a thin line of hiker headlamps with their lights bobbing up and down, weaving higher and higher up the mountain to mark the distance still to go. I remember singing with the guides as we walked under the stars. The singing helped my mind stay focused given how thin the air was at that elevation and how easy it was to drift out of consciousness. We kept moving and singing, passing groups of hikers one at a time on the hours-long ascent. Just before sunrise, we were the first hikers to reach the top, slowly moving to hug one another and the sign marking 19,341 feet. We sat together for just a moment, looking out at the glacier ahead and the world below, before making our way to safer ground. It was an unforgettable trip.