Paul serves as a faculty associate in the Polytechnic School in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.
Paul Fries is an accomplished IT professional with nearly 30 years of experience, focusing on cloud operations and security. Throughout his career, he has held various leadership positions, including Director of Information Technology at a Fortune 100 company, where he led critical IT initiatives and advanced technological solutions on a global scale. Currently, in addition to his teaching role, Paul serves as a Principal Cloud Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he advises AWS customers, including some of the world's largest organizations. His expertise encompasses cloud strategy, organizational change, cloud migration, system resiliency, and global network and infrastructure design.
In addition to his professional work, Paul is deeply committed to education. He is currently engaged in original research on critical infrastructure resiliency as part of his doctoral studies. His academic research enhances his industry expertise, allowing him to integrate cutting-edge knowledge into his teaching. Paul is dedicated to bringing real-world experience to his students, bridging the gap between academic learning and practical application in the IT workplace.
Paul also holds several industry certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional and Associate.