Max R. Peterson II, Vice President of Sovereign Cloud, Amazon Web Services

Max Peterson is the vice president (VP) of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Sovereign Cloud. In this role, Peterson leads efforts to ensure all AWS customers around the world have the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards, and security features available in the cloud. These efforts are part of the AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge and build on AWS’s sovereign-by-design approach. Peterson is passionate about helping customers and partners drive rapid innovation with the cloud while meeting evolving compliance, security, and policy requirements.

Prior to his current role, Peterson served as the VP of AWS Worldwide Public Sector (WWPS) and created and led the WWPS International Sales division with a focus on empowering government, education, healthcare, aerospace and satellite, and nonprofit organizations to modernize their missions with the cloud. His leadership contributed to the global growth of the business and tens of thousands of public sector organizations around the world now count on AWS to support their mission-critical systems.

With over 30 years of public sector experience, Peterson has earned industry recognition for his leadership and contributions. Most recently in 2024, he was named one of Washington’s Tech Titans, marking his third consecutive year making the list. In 2023, he was the recipient of FCW’s Federal 100 Eagle Award. Peterson also received Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 Award in both 2023 and 2022. He was a recipient of WashingtonExec’s 2022 Pinnacle Award and included on Virginia Business magazine’s Virginia 500: 2022 Power List. In both 2022 and 2021, Peterson received Scoop News Group’s FedScoop 50 Award. He was also recognized in the 2021 Washington Business Journal’s Power 100 class.  

Peterson dedicates time to philanthropic activities in support of the global community and is a strong advocate for driving inclusion and diversity in the tech space. His experience has included serving as a co-chair of the Atlantic Council GeoTech Center, a nonpartisan think tank promoting technology and innovation, and sitting on the boards of Halcyon, an organization with a mission to make business and society more inclusive and impact-oriented, and Economic Club of Washington, D.C. Peterson has also been involved with the Professional Services Council and Cloud Computing Caucus Advisory Group.  

Before joining AWS in 2012, Peterson served as vice president and general manager of Dell Inc. Federal Civilian and Intelligence Agencies. He also previously held positions as vice president of federal sales at CDW Government and vice president of public sector sales at Commerce One.

Condensed Version:

Max Peterson is the vice president (VP) of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Sovereign Cloud. He leads efforts to ensure all AWS customers around the world have the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards, and security features available in the cloud. Prior to his current role, Peterson served as the VP of AWS Worldwide Public Sector (WWPS) and created and led the WWPS International Sales division with a focus on empowering government, education, healthcare, aerospace and satellite, and nonprofit organizations to drive rapid innovation while meeting evolving compliance, security, and policy requirements. Peterson has over 30 years of public sector experience and served in other leadership technology roles before joining Amazon. Peterson has earned both a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and Master of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Maryland.