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AWS European Sovereign Cloud Governance
European-based control, governance and operations
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud operates with an independent governance structure, dedicated Security Operations Centre, and under a parent company that is locally controlled in the European Union (EU), led by EU citizens and subject to local laws. AWS has established a new European organisation and operating model for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud with a new parent company and three subsidiaries incorporated in Germany.
The dedicated European subsidiaries have implemented controls for keeping customer content and customer-created metadata within the EU. To operate the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, they employ EU resident personnel and own the underlying infrastructure. Additionally, these subsidiaries maintain EU-based root certificates and trust services to authenticate the security and identity of cloud services. The management team of the parent company includes Stefan Hoechbauer and Stéphane Israël, both EU citizens residing in the EU and experienced business leaders, strengthening the operational autonomy of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Meet the Executive Leadership Team
Stéphane Israël
Stéphane Israël, leader and Managing Director of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, is a French national and seasoned executive with extensive experience in European technology. Prior to joining AWS, he was the CEO of Arianespace, Europe's leading satellite launch company and a launch provider for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, where he oversaw numerous successful space missions, including the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, and fostered strong relationships with both public and private sector stakeholders across Europe and beyond.
Based in Germany, Israël was appointed as the Managing Director of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in September 2025. He is responsible for the management and operations of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, including infrastructure, technology, and services, as well as leading AWS's broader digital sovereignty efforts.
Stefan Hoechbauer
Stefan Hoechbauer, Vice President of AWS Global Sales Germany and Europe Central, is a German national with over 25 years of experience in technology sales and leadership. Prior to joining AWS in April 2023, he served as Executive Vice President and CEO of DACH at Salesforce, where he drove significant growth and innovation in the region. He previously held senior leadership positions at SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle, building deep expertise in helping enterprises leverage technology for digital transformation.
Based in Germany, Hoechbauer was appointed as Managing Director of AWS European Sovereign Cloud in January 2026. He provides executive expertise to the AWS European Sovereign Cloud complies, ensuring it complies with all applicable laws and regulations in Germany and the EU.
Advisory board
AWS established an independent advisory board for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, legally obligated to act in the best interest of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Reinforcing the sovereign control of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, the advisory board consists of five members, all EU citizens and residents, including two independent board members who are not affiliated with Amazon. The advisory board will act as a source of expertise and provide accountability on sovereignty-related aspects of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud operations, including strong security and access controls and the ability to operate independently in the event of disruption.
Stephane Ducable
Stéphane Ducable, Vice President of Public Policy AWS for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), is a French national with extensive experience in technology policy and government relations. Prior to joining AWS in 2014, he held senior management positions at Microsoft, including Head of External Affairs in Brussels, Regional Corporate Affairs Director in Singapore, and Assistant General Counsel and Director of Corporate Affairs in Japan. He previously served as Deputy Vice President of Public Affairs at Alcatel and began his career as the first in-house legal counsel at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Based in France, Ducable leads a team focused on increasing adoption of AI and cloud computing by engaging with policymakers across the EMEA region. In 2016, he was a founding member of Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), the first association of cloud infrastructure services providers in Europe, and represented Amazon on its board until 2025. Ducable was appointed to the advisory board of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in January 2026.
General (Ret.) Philippe Lavigne
Gen (Ret) Philippe Lavigne is an advisory board member of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. From 2018 to 2021, Lavigne served as Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force, overseeing strategic operations, modernization efforts, and international defense cooperation. Most recently, from 2021 to 2024, he was NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, responsible for Anticipation with strategic foresight analysis, for operational Strategy to capability development through Transformation including innovation, and for Talents challenges, across the Alliance. A seasoned fighter pilot, Lavigne has flown over 3,000 flight hours, including more than 50 combat missions in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq. He has led key military operations, including in Afghanistan as the last French forces commander and the Director of the Kabul international airport. His expertise spans defense policy, space and European security cooperation, operational strategy and military technology innovation. Lavigne was appointed to the advisory board of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in January 2026.
Ian McGarry
Ian McGarry, Director of Amazon CloudWatch at AWS, is an Irish national with over two decades of experience in cloud computing and software development. Based in Ireland, McGarry leads teams to deliver secure and highly available observability services for AWS customers. In this role, McGarry has contributed to fostering collaboration across global teams, and has delivered multiple availability, operational excellence, and resiliency programs across Amazon. Prior to joining Amazon in 2013, McGarry specialized in the telecommunications industry, where he held leadership roles in Ericsson and Oracle. There he gained deep industry domain knowledge and worked closely with major Communication Service Providers to deliver network management solutions. McGarry holds engineering degrees from Trinity College Dublin, and Dublin City University, and in 2014 graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Masters in Business Administration. McGarry was appointed to the advisory board of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in January 2026.
Sinéad McSweeney
Sinéad McSweeny is an advisory board member of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. McSweeny studied law at University College Cork and qualified as a barrister in 1993. She began her working life as a parliamentary transcriber in the Dail debates unit of the Houses of the Oireachtas and, between 1996 and 2002, held a range of political advisory positions in the Irish government including roles as Special Adviser to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and, prior to that, at the Attorney General’s Office. She was Director of Communications for An Garda Síochána from 2007 to 2012 having done a similar role as Director of Media and Public Relations for the Police Service of Northern Ireland between 2004 and 2007. McSweeny joined Twitter as Head of Public Policy for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) in 2012 and was subsequently appointed Managing Director of the company’s EMEA headquarters in Dublin. In 2021 she became Twitter’s Global Vice President of Public Policy, a role she held until December 2022. She recently completed a higher diploma in psychology at Trinity College, Dublin. McSweeny was appointed to the advisory board of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in January 2026.
Barbara Scarafia
Barbara Scarafia, Vice President and Associate General Counsel Europe at Amazon, is a German-trained attorney at law with over two decades of experience in commercial, tech, and regulatory law. Scarafia has been instrumental in navigating Amazon's legal landscape in Europe throughout her tenure with the company and advises on a broad range of strategic projects across Europe. Scarafia has studied in Berlin and joined Amazon as Legal Director for Germany in 1999 after a few years working as attorney in a litigation boutique firm. Since 2014 she has been based in Luxembourg. Scarafia was appointed to the advisory board of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in January 2026.
Security Operations
Security is foundational to digital sovereignty and AWS is architected to be the most secure global cloud infrastructure on which to build, migrate and manage applications and workloads. AWS has always been secure by design, defining industry-leading practices, technologies, and controls that are deeply integrated across all layers, from the physical data centres to the network design, and service architectures, ensuring robust security and data protection for customers' applications and data.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be secured by a dedicated European Security Operations Centre (SOC) that mirrors global security practices. To bring our trusted solutions and operations to customers of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, we will extend our security operations to the dedicated SOC. This SOC will be supported by a dedicated security leader who will be an EU citizen residing in the EU. The security leader will be responsible for advising the managing directors and supporting customers and regulators in Europe on security-related matters.
AWS continues to work closely with regulators across Europe, including the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), which has established leading security standards for cloud providers in Germany and beyond. Earlier this year, AWS and the BSI signed a co-operation agreement, and a key priority of that agreement was to further the governance, technical standards for operational separation, and data flow management required for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, enabling compliance with BSI's digital sovereignty requirements.