Pratikkumar Chunawala
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Principal Cloud Architect, Amazon Web Services
Polytechnic Alumni Association - International Board of Directors
(Term ending August 31, 2029)
Pratikkumar Chunawala is a technology leader with over a decade of demonstrated success leading large-scale cloud transformation, migration, and modernization initiatives for global enterprises across financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, energy, and utilities. As a Principal Cloud Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS), he advises many of the world's largest enterprises on complex data center exits, divestitures, and enterprise modernization programs, from a multi-trillion-dollar global custodial bank and a Fortune 100 insurer to a global climate and refrigeration leader and major healthcare, energy, and telecommunications organizations.
Before AWS, Pratikkumar spent three years as a technology advisor at PwC, where he was among the first professionals firm-wide to hold professional AWS certifications and led data-center migrations, disaster-recovery solutions, and cloud-adoption strategies for Fortune 100 clients. Earlier, as a junior research scientist with India's Department of Science and Technology, he co-managed a national pilot program to develop indigenous third-generation Software Defined Radios, creating resilient communication networks for disaster-response coordination in remote regions of the country.
Pratikkumar has built reusable solutions and published guidance that enterprises rely on to migrate to AWS: he co-developed the Cloud Migration Factory, a published AWS Solution now widely used to accelerate enterprise migrations, and is a lead author of AWS's Prescriptive Guidance for large migrations, alongside official AWS technical blogs referenced by enterprises worldwide. He applied that foundation to lead Carrier's data center exit upon its divestiture, modernizing the cloud infrastructure that strengthened the cold-chain management systems behind the scaled distribution of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. As an Amazon Bar Raiser, he is an independent interviewer safeguarding Amazon's hiring standards.
As the founder of NYU@Amazon, Pratikkumar built a cross-organizational alum community that bridges NYU and Amazon, spanning across Amazon business units and 11 NYU schools, to drive mentorship, allyship, and academic engagement. Under his leadership, it has connected NYU Tandon students directly with industry leaders in global financial services, healthcare, and life sciences, exposing them to agentic, spec-driven development.
He is Principal Course Advisor, AWS industry partner for a new NYU Tandon graduate course, IE-GY 9113 B, System Integration: From ERP to Agentic AI. As an industry partner, he judges the course's final competition, where student teams present the agentic-AI systems they build. At the 2026 IISE Northeast Regional Conference at NYU Tandon, he served as a panelist on "AI & Innovation: Building the Future of Industrial Systems." As an ally on NYU Tandon's Alumnae Advisory Council, he mentors Women in STEM and students from underrepresented backgrounds and evaluates candidates for academic grants. He served on the President's Advisory Council at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC, CUNY), where technology-industry leaders strategized to diversify the IT talent pipeline by expanding internships, entry-level IT hiring, and new degree and certificate programs. In 2026, he was appointed to the CUNY Tech Futures AI and Emerging Tech Advisory Working Group, convened by the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline, where he reviews and evaluates AI curriculum for a $5.3 million program serving more than 2,500 students across 12 CUNY campuses. He delivers lectures at Carnegie Mellon University on cloud architecture, enterprise transformation, migration, and modernization.
Pratikkumar is among only about 100 cloud professionals worldwide to hold the AWS Golden Jacket, awarded for earning all active AWS certifications. He holds 15 AWS certifications, 24 professional accreditations, and the AWS Academy Educator designation. He is a member of the Sigma Xi Research Honor Society.
Polytechnic Alumni Association - International Board of Directors
(Term ending August 31, 2029)
Pratikkumar Chunawala is a technology leader with over a decade of demonstrated success leading large-scale cloud transformation, migration, and modernization initiatives for global enterprises across financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, energy, and utilities. As a Principal Cloud Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS), he advises many of the world's largest enterprises on complex data center exits, divestitures, and enterprise modernization programs, from a multi-trillion-dollar global custodial bank and a Fortune 100 insurer to a global climate and refrigeration leader and major healthcare, energy, and telecommunications organizations.
Before AWS, Pratikkumar spent three years as a technology advisor at PwC, where he was among the first professionals firm-wide to hold professional AWS certifications and led data-center migrations, disaster-recovery solutions, and cloud-adoption strategies for Fortune 100 clients. Earlier, as a junior research scientist with India's Department of Science and Technology, he co-managed a national pilot program to develop indigenous third-generation Software Defined Radios, creating resilient communication networks for disaster-response coordination in remote regions of the country.
Pratikkumar has built reusable solutions and published guidance that enterprises rely on to migrate to AWS: he co-developed the Cloud Migration Factory, a published AWS Solution now widely used to accelerate enterprise migrations, and is a lead author of AWS's Prescriptive Guidance for large migrations, alongside official AWS technical blogs referenced by enterprises worldwide. He applied that foundation to lead Carrier's data center exit upon its divestiture, modernizing the cloud infrastructure that strengthened the cold-chain management systems behind the scaled distribution of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. As an Amazon Bar Raiser, he is an independent interviewer safeguarding Amazon's hiring standards.
As the founder of NYU@Amazon, Pratikkumar built a cross-organizational alum community that bridges NYU and Amazon, spanning across Amazon business units and 11 NYU schools, to drive mentorship, allyship, and academic engagement. Under his leadership, it has connected NYU Tandon students directly with industry leaders in global financial services, healthcare, and life sciences, exposing them to agentic, spec-driven development.
He is Principal Course Advisor, AWS industry partner for a new NYU Tandon graduate course, IE-GY 9113 B, System Integration: From ERP to Agentic AI. As an industry partner, he judges the course's final competition, where student teams present the agentic-AI systems they build. At the 2026 IISE Northeast Regional Conference at NYU Tandon, he served as a panelist on "AI & Innovation: Building the Future of Industrial Systems." As an ally on NYU Tandon's Alumnae Advisory Council, he mentors Women in STEM and students from underrepresented backgrounds and evaluates candidates for academic grants.
He served on the President's Advisory Council at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC, CUNY), where technology-industry leaders strategized to diversify the IT talent pipeline by expanding internships, entry-level IT hiring, and new degree and certificate programs. In 2026, he was appointed to the CUNY Tech Futures AI and Emerging Tech Advisory Working Group, convened by the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline, where he reviews and evaluates AI curriculum for a $5.3 million program serving more than 2,500 students across 12 CUNY campuses. He delivers lectures at Carnegie Mellon University on cloud architecture, enterprise transformation, migration, and modernization.
Pratikkumar is among only about 100 cloud professionals worldwide to hold the AWS Golden Jacket, awarded for earning all active AWS certifications. He holds 15 AWS certifications, 24 professional accreditations, and the AWS Academy Educator designation. He is a member of the Sigma Xi Research Honor Society.