New Amazon general manager grew career in Canada before Sioux Falls move

To say there are many paths to a career at Amazon is an understatement.

There are roles for those who have never held a job, those with an extensive resume and education, and everyone in between.

In the case of Ash Gill, the path led him from Toronto in Canada to Sioux Falls and allowed him to put his business experience and education to work leading fulfillment centers.

Born in India, Gill moved to Canada to earn his MBA at the University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management.

Before that, he held management roles with Maruti Suzuki India and Mercedes-Benz India, ultimately managing accessories and merchandise business nationwide for the luxury automaker.

“Going into Amazon allowed me to blend work in management and business operations, plus take advantage of my engineering background,” Gill said.

“I joined in the company in 2016 through a Pathways Leadership Program that sets a timeline to help you grow within the organization, and then ultimately you become a site leader.”

That happened for Gill in 2021, when he was chosen to lead a 1.1-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Ottawa. Within eight months, his operation ranked top out of 80 facilities in North America.

In 2022, he became general manager of a 1.7-million-square-foot fulfillment center in the Toronto area, where again his team achieved a top ranking in North America, received the Best at Amazon award in 2023 and led the facility to a No. 1 worldwide ranking in May 2024.

He now leads a team at the Sioux Falls fulfillment center at Foundation Park, which averages about 1,500 people and has some staffing variation in peak times.

“I’m very impressed with Sioux Falls. I think people are very hardworking here,” he said. “Everybody wants to make an impact and do the right thing, and coming in with so much experience I think has helped me give the team clear direction. With that, we can channel the energy off the leaders to make a bigger impact faster.”

The Sioux Falls fulfillment center is fully operational, and Gill aims to provide even stronger service to customers through it.

“We really want to improve our speed,” he said. “There’s a lot happening within Amazon broadly to support that as well, and as an experienced general manager, my goal is to lead in how we serve the community of Sioux Falls and the surrounding area.”

Gill’s path illustrates the strength of Amazon as an employer, said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“We’ve been so impressed since welcoming Amazon to Foundation Park, and we’re excited to welcome Ash and his leadership to our community,” she said. “Amazon has an incredible hiring and talent development program and is a model in how you can both grow your career from within here and gain skills that are going to serve you no matter where you go.”

Gill had never been to Sioux Falls before learning about the new role.

“But I found quite a few people in Toronto who did know Sioux Falls,” he added. “We had doctors who had worked at Sanford, and I had a colleague who worked at Citibank for a few years, and they all said good things.”

Now that he has moved here, “I’m super-impressed with the community,” he said. “In Canada, people are nice, but not as nice as Sioux Falls. Just interacting with people at the airport, coffee shops, anywhere, my first impression was how friendly they are, and it’s very refreshing.”

For a metro area of about 300,000, “I’m also impressed by the amount of infrastructure for a city this size,” he continued. “From the highways to the health systems, it feels like what I would expect in a suburb of Toronto that’s three times the size.”

His family was able to find a brand-new home near schools in northwest Sioux Falls that’s minutes from his job at Amazon.

“We were the first ones to move on our street, and now people gradually are moving in,” he said.

He and his wife have a 2 1/2-year-old and a 6-month old, “and we found a really good day care,” Gill said. “In Canada, the day cares are all very large, like a school, and here we were able to find an in-home day care that feels like family when my son goes there.”

For fun, he has discovered Great Shots, which also is a quick ride from home or work.

“That’s been my favorite thing so far,” Gill said. “I’m taking my entire team there at the end of the month.”

The work-life advantages are key for many who move to Sioux Falls, Guzzetta said.

“We’re so glad Ash and his family are finding out what great quality of life we enjoy here,” she said. “At work and at home, you quickly discover the Sioux Falls advantage as soon as you connect with our community.”

To learn more about growing your career in Sioux Falls, contact Denise Guzzetta at deniseg@siouxfalls.com or visit siouxfalls.com.