During the course of his career, Ron Frierson has done everything from civic service to leading the local operations of a global conglomerate.
Today, Frierson is director of economic development for the Western U.S. region at Amazon.com Inc. and chair of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
He is the LAEDC’s first Black chairman. Frierson previously served as director of economic policy for former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and has worked with other governments as well.
Frierson sat down with the Business Journal to discuss Amazon’s plans in the region, the ports and community engagement.
What first got you interested in economic development?
Economic development is something that I somewhat fell into, and many economic developers would probably say the same thing. The former lieutenant governor of the state of Kansas, Gary Sherrer, and the former dean of the school of business at my alma mater, Dr. John Rich, they introduced me to a role with the Kansas Department of Commerce. That role led to me working underneath three gubernatorial administrations. Gov. Bill Graves first, and then Gov. Kathleen Sebelius before she went to the Obama administration, and then from there to Gov. Sam Brownback. I’ve actually worked for two Republican governors and one Democratic governor before I went to the private sector.
What made you interested in moving from Mayor Garcetti’s office to Amazon?
When it was our time to leave office, I was in a really, really good position where I had quite a few suitors. And Amazon, obviously, being Amazon, it deserves your attention when that opportunity comes. When the recruiter – who’s still a friend to this day – called me, that entire process, until I accepted the role, I became more and more impressed with the quality of the people, the culture, and that’s what really brings you in. This is a dynamic organization with really smart, really innovative and just great people and a great culture. It fit me to a tee.
During your time at Amazon, what have been some of the biggest projects or initiatives you have personally taken on?
Everything we do at Amazon is big, so I can’t point to one specific thing. What I can say that’s relevant for Los Angeles is that this year we launched our EV trucks out at the Port of L.A. and the Port of Long Beach, nearly 50 of them, which is amazing, and is our largest fleet of electric, heavy-duty vehicles in the country. And we’re really proud of that.
And secondly, in the L.A. area, we also launched this year, Amazon Pharmacy, so we’ll be able to deliver prescription meds to our customers, same day, in the Southern California region. We’re going to roll out more of those.
What have been some of the biggest difficulties or unexpected challenges?
There’s always going to be challenges when you innovate. There’s always going to be challenges when you kind of lean into doing something and improving something. I guess, by nature of improvement, you have to seek areas to improve. But we have very smart, very capable people, and we listen to our customers and try to figure out ways to serve them better.
What are some of the projects or initiatives in the works?
I can’t really give out a road map of what we’re going to do in the future. One thing I can say is that we are really excited about the innovations being made in AI. AI has been pretty much part of Amazon’s fabric for decades. Now, it’s in the spotlight, in the news, quite a bit lately.
You have that digital shopping assistant, that’s generative, AI. We have suggested items for you to buy and we always try to optimize and improve our platform. It’s always been part of us, and now with generative AI, we’re just able to accelerate those innovations and developments.
Customers don’t see how AI is being used to help to make our routes more efficient, to also cut down on the emissions to the environment. And we are going to a completely EV fleet. We have our net zero carbon initiative that we plan to reach by 2040 and so part of that is utilizing AI.
You have quite a lot under your purview, both when it comes to different aspects of the business and territories. How do you balance it all?
We maintain a very community centric organization. We’re a global company, but we’re also a neighborhood company. We are a company that looks at what’s best for our communities, for our employees, for our customers. We take a holistic view regarding service to the community.
There’s a lot of business lines in Los Angeles alone, rightfully so. This is the second largest city in the country. It’s a polycentric megapolis, wherein just about every sort of business and business line can take root here in the Los Angeles region, and so that just provides a lot of opportunity for Amazon, as well as many others, to help to service the customers and clients, and just to be an active member of the community here.
Speaking of community involvement, you are also a leader at LAEDC. How did you get involved with the organization?
My relationship with the LAEDC goes back to before Amazon. . .the LAEDC, is, in my mind, one of the preeminent economic development organizations in the country. And obviously you’re dealing with the large, very large economy, which is the L.A. region, not just L.A. City, and so this region has a lot of promise, and what we want to do is to try to utilize the five pillar approach to economic development, and with that five pillar approach, some of that includes research and that’s how I first was introduced (to the LAEDC). When I worked for the mayor’s office, we utilized the LAEDC quite a bit to get some of the data and research that we needed in order to come up with programs that could help with pandemic recovery and stabilizing the local economy, and just the work that they do at the LAEDC. I was able to join the board of governors there (and) it’s just been a pleasure to work with such smart people and other business and community minded individuals from around the L.A. region on that board to try to help, in an equitable fashion, lift up the L.A. economy for all.
Now, with that being said, we have quite a few things that are happening in Los Angeles with, of course, the Olympics, but even the World Cup, we have another Super Bowl. There’s a lot of things happening in L.A., and so the LAEDC, we have our hands full, really making sure that we try to maximize these opportunities for all of the residents in Los Angeles.
What’s next for you?
My personal model is not to look too far ahead, but to be present. My goal is to be the very best Amazonian that I can be. When I was with Mayor Garcetti, I wanted to be the best director of economic policy I could be. And with that, and just staying focused on that, if opportunities come, which they usually do, but you have to really home in on where you are. So again, I don’t look too far ahead. I look at being the best Amazonian. That means the best people manager, the best employee, just on every front of improving myself, that’s really where I focus.
