Shannon Loew Departs Amazon as Global Real Estate Leader
Shannon Loew, the global real estate leader at Amazon, has decided to leave the position he took on following the retirement of long-time Amazon executive John Schoettler. This news was confirmed by the company to GeekWire on Friday.
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser stated, “After almost three years at Amazon, Shannon has decided to pursue other opportunities outside of the company. We appreciate all his contributions and wish him the best of luck.”
Loew, a veteran in the design and real estate industries, joined Amazon in January 2023. He began overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company’s Global Real Estate & Facilities team in early 2024, taking over from Schoettler, who retired after 23 years at Amazon.
Schoettler was instrumental in the remarkable growth of Amazon’s office space, expanding from around 1 million square feet when he started in 2001 to more than 65 million square feet across over 60 countries upon his departure.
Prior to his time at Amazon, Loew founded Fix Impact Development, a real estate design company, where he spent 14 years. He also created Hatchback Cottages in Seattle and worked as a designer at IDEO.
Loew, an affiliate fellow at the University of Washington’s Runstad Center for Real Estate, holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard, a BA in environmental design from Vassar College, and a professional degree in filmmaking from NYU.
In a podcast discussion with ZRG Partners in March, Loew discussed his responsibilities at Amazon and the extensive real estate portfolio under his purview.
“Being a real estate professional at a tech company is really different than in private development. You have a whole set of additional factors and assumptions influencing your decisions, such as the speed of growth and hiring needs as the company evolves,” Loew explained.
Last year, Loew participated in a panel discussion alongside other corporate leaders, moderated by former U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, focusing on the private sector’s role in creating and maintaining equitable park systems.