Teresa Carlson
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How AWS Sold Cloud to the CIA – Teresa Carlson GCI
Former AWS leader Teresa Carlson, who scaled the government business to $10 billion by establishing the FedRAMP framework and securing the landmark CIA contract, now applies those lessons to accelerate AI adoption through her co-founded General Catalyst Institute. GCI facilitates direct engagement between regulated industry startups and policymakers in Washington to navigate complex government contracting and advocate for unified AI regulatory standards. The institute aims to create an "unfair advantage" for innovators by organizing high-level delegations to the White House and Pentagon, ensuring new technologies are deployed efficiently while maintaining national security and competitive resilience.
- a16z30 min
a16z Podcast | The Cloud and The Public Sector
Established 5.5 years ago to target the U.S. federal government and expand globally, the AWS Public Sector division overcame initial security misconceptions by collaborating with agencies like GSA and NIST to transition legacy compliance models to the continuous-monitoring FedRAMP framework. This partnership enabled AWS to become the first major cloud provider to achieve FedRAMP certification, facilitating a shift toward agile procurement and utility-based billing while addressing data sovereignty concerns through regional innovation centers in locations such as South Korea and Bahrain. By combining direct hybrid connections with inherited security controls, the division allows government entities to rapidly prototype, scale, and modernize legacy systems without the capital costs or regulatory stagnation associated with traditional IT infrastructure.