Western Digital appoints Ahmed Shihab as Chief Product Officer

Western Digital announced the hiring of Ahmed Shihab as Chief Product Officer. Shihab, who has extensive experience in cloud storage, most recently served as Corporate Vice President of Azure Storage at Microsoft. He led engineering and operations for Microsoft's Object and Block storage, enhancing cloud storage solutions. In his new role, Shihab will oversee product strategy and engineering as Western Digital develops its Hard Disk Drive (HDD) products and solutions.

Irving Tan, CEO of Western Digital, stated, “Ahmed joins Western Digital at a pivotal time for the HDD industry with data generation, AI adoption, and the demand for scalable storage continuing to grow. His expertise will be instrumental in driving innovation and meeting the industry's evolving needs.” Tan emphasized that Shihab's background in storage and infrastructure positions him as an appropriate leader for advancing Western Digital’s objectives.

With nearly 30 years of experience, Shihab has focused on product design and leadership, fostering a quality-driven culture. Before his tenure at Microsoft, he held the role of Vice President of Infrastructure Hardware at AWS, where he managed the development of AWS's storage and compute fleet. He also served as Vice President and Chief Architect at NetApp and spent over eight years with Xyratex.

Tan added, “Hyperscalers, cloud service providers, and OEMs are looking to Western Digital to provide them with cutting-edge HDD technology to grow their businesses. With Ahmed's leadership, our customers can expect even more from Western Digital’s legacy of creating innovative and reliable storage solutions.”