Bell (pictured) is executive VP of security, compliance identity and management at Microsoft. He was senior VP of Amazon Web Services (AWS) until 2021.
Bell said: “I know bold innovation is possible, and as companies of all sizes look for smarter, better and more effective solutions to reach their customers, Twilio is building the infrastructure to meet their needs.”
Only days ago, Bell’s division at Microsoft was reported to be facing significant cutbacks in staff, part of a wider programme of layoffs in the company.
Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson said: “Charlie’s expertise in both cybersecurity and running infrastructure technology businesses at scale brings an invaluable skill set to the Twilio board. I look forward to Charlie’s contributions to Twilio as we continue to build the leading customer engagement platform serving hundreds of thousands of businesses and millions of developers each year.”
Bell started his career at Boeing, working on Space Shuttle projects, where he was a flight interface engineer, before moving to Oracle. He joined AWS in 1998, when Amazon bought Server Technologies, a company of which he was CEO, and became AWS’s director of software engineering.
Lawson said: “Charlie is one of the most well respected and admired technologists in the world, with a historic career building AWS from the ground up for more than two decades and now running cybersecurity at the world’s largest software company, Microsoft.”
