David Zapolsky

Senior Vice President, Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer Amazon

Last Reviewed: October 1, 2026

Executive Summary

David Zapolsky has been Amazon’s top lawyer since 2012 and since February 2025 its Senior Vice President, Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer, combining the legal, public policy, compliance and regulatory functions under one executive. He has been at Amazon since November 1999, making him one of its longest-serving executive officers. He arrived as a litigation and regulatory lawyer and has spent a quarter of a century on the company’s legal side. Before Amazon he was a New York prosecutor and a law firm partner in Seattle.

Career Highlights

• Senior Vice President, Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer since February 2025.
• Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy and General Counsel from May 2023 to February 2025.
• General Counsel since September 2012, first as Vice President and from May 2014 as Senior Vice President.
• Amazon’s corporate Secretary from September 2012 to January 2024.
• Joined Amazon in November 1999 as Associate General Counsel for Litigation and Regulatory matters.
• Earlier an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn and a partner at Dorsey & Whitney and Bogle & Gates.

Professional Journey

Zapolsky earned an undergraduate degree in music at Columbia University and a J.D. with honors at the University of California, Berkeley. He began his legal career in New York as an Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and later practised at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

In 1994 he moved to Seattle, where he became a partner at the Seattle offices of Dorsey & Whitney and Bogle & Gates. In November 1999 he joined Amazon as Associate General Counsel for Litigation and Regulatory matters, and in April 2002 he was promoted to Vice President.

In September 2012 he became Vice President and General Counsel and corporate Secretary, and in May 2014 Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In May 2023 his title broadened to Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy and General Counsel, and in January 2024 he handed over the Secretary role. Since February 2025 he has been Senior Vice President, Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer, overseeing Amazon’s legal, policy, compliance and regulatory affairs for a company that ranked No. 1 on the 2026 Fortune 500.

Education

Columbia University

Undergraduate degree, Music

University of California, Berkeley

J.D., with honors