AWS Summit 2025 in Washington, D.C. Spotlights National Cloud Priorities; Harshvardhan Chunawala Receives First-Ever Official AWS Golden Jacket
AWS Summit 2025 honors Harshvardhan Chunawala with the first official AWS Golden Jacket for leadership in secure cloud and space systems.
image for illustrative purpose
The AWS Summit 2025, held in Washington, D.C., attracted over 14,200 attendees, including tech leaders, public sector officials, and researchers from around the world. This year’s summit focused on the strategic role of cloud computing in supporting critical infrastructure across sectors such as defense, healthcare, finance, education, and government services.
Dave Levy, Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), delivered the keynote address, emphasizing AWS’s ongoing commitment to secure cloud solutions for mission-critical operations. A major announcement was the upcoming launch of the AWS Secret-West Region—AWS’s second region certified to handle U.S. government workloads classified up to the Secret level. The expansion will allow defense and intelligence agencies to deploy multi-region architectures for improved resilience and operational readiness.
High-profile speakers at the summit included Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Dr. Aneaze Offodil of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Pearson CEO Omar Abbosh. They discussed the transformative impact of cloud and AI technologies on public health, education, and digital governance.
A standout moment of the summit was the official public presentation of the AWS Golden Jacket—one of the cloud industry’s most exclusive honors. While long known within AWS professional circles, the award had never before been formally presented in public.
Harshvardhan Chunawala, an engineering technologist and cybersecurity researcher, became the first individual to receive the AWS Golden Jacket in an official ceremony. The award recognizes professionals who have achieved all active AWS certifications and demonstrated long-term leadership, technical innovation, and contributions to the global cloud community.
Chunawala has played a key role in developing secure cloud infrastructure for high-stakes industries, including finance, aerospace, healthcare, and media. His work extends to national digital initiatives and academic research, including contributions to Carnegie Mellon University’s Space Mission Control. He also served as a Mission Operator for the Iris Lunar Rover, the first university-built nano lunar rover, launched in January 2024.
In addition to his technical achievements, Chunawala is an AWS Authorized Educator and has trained aspiring cloud professionals around the world. During the award ceremony, he appeared in a CMU MoonRanger t-shirt, symbolizing his ongoing work at the intersection of cloud security and space systems.
The AWS Summit 2025 not only highlighted national cloud priorities but also marked a new chapter in recognizing individual excellence within the cloud ecosystem. The public debut of the AWS Golden Jacket reflects a growing emphasis on leadership, expertise, and public impact in the rapidly evolving world of secure cloud computing.
