Dave Clark on supply chains, Auger and working with your spouseNBC News LogoSearchSearchNBC News LogoToday Logo | Latest News Today

Feb. 4, 2026, 6:00 AM EST

For at least two decades, former Amazon executive Dave Clark ended his work week the same way: a standing Friday date night with his wife, Leigh Anne.

Over dinner, the Clarks would talk through the “peak and pit” of their weeks. The ritual often revolved around Amazon, where Clark played a central role in building the logistics infrastructure that helped launch the e-commerce era.

During those years, Leigh Anne was a sounding board for her husband. In the process, she had a front-row seat to Amazon’s growth from what she called “a baby to a behemoth.”

By the time Clark left Amazon in 2022, he was CEO of the Worldwide Consumer division and one of billionaire founder Jeff Bezos’ top lieutenants.

Dave Clark stands in an office with his arms crossed, posed for a portrait — Dave Clark at Auger headquarters Monday.David Jaewon Oh for NBC News

But these days, Fridays for the Clarks look very different.

Their dinner date has morphed into afternoon cocktails — a bourbon with Diet Coke for her and a Manhattan for him. And the conversation isn’t focused on Amazon anymore. It’s about Auger, the supply-chain startup they run together.

In their first joint interview from Auger’s Seattle office, the Clarks described how their marriage and complementary skill sets are shaping the company.

“We’ve been together for so long that we kind of just read each other’s minds,” Leigh Anne said. Working together, she said, “felt like a natural fit.”

Leigh Anne Clark and Dave Clark walk in the middle of an office while talking to each other, workers are at computers around them — The Clarks at Auger headquarters Monday.David Jaewon Oh for NBC News

The road to Auger

Auger is an artificial intelligence-powered operating system designed to help companies manage their global supply chains end-to-end. It aims to use its AI tools to shorten the time between when something goes wrong in a supply chain and when a company responds and pivots to adapt.

Applying AI's powers to supply chain management isn’t a new concept, however. And with total investments in applying AI to the field expected to grow sharply over the next five years, the field is already crowded with startups.

What sets Auger apart, however, is that it's helmed by Clark, who is as close to a rock star as anyone in supply chain logistics.

For more than 20 years, Clark played a central role in building Amazon’s automated global supply chain (his nickname was The Sniper). Clark designed and implemented much of the logistics infrastructure that today enables the kind of fast, reliable delivery that many people take for granted.

During the pandemic, Clark expanded Amazon’s operations to meet the soaring demand for home delivery. He also faced unprecedented supply chain disruptions that led to empty grocery store shelves around the world.

After he stepped down from Amazon, Clark did a brief, turbulent stint at the logistics company Flexport.

He launched Auger in 2024 with $100 million in seed funding from the venture capital firm Oak HC/FT.

“Its formation is a desire to solve this big problem with massive waste in the supply chain, massive underutilization of people in the supply chain,” Clark said. “And finally, the technology exists to make it work.”

Next up: taking on its first long-term client, Facebook parent company Meta, and synchronizing the supply chain for Reality Labs, Meta’s growing portfolio of wearables — think virtual reality glasses from Ray-Ban and Oakley — and hardware products.

Hands hold a document that reads "How we work
Fewer Layers.
Fewer Meetings.
More Ownership." — Leigh Anne Clark holds a brand document at Auger headquarters Monday.David Jaewon Oh for NBC News

A difficult task made even harder

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime has injected a new level of volatility into global trade over the last year, and his country-specific tariffs have forced many multinational companies to rethink their entire supply chains.

A wide view of the distribution floor of an Amazon warehouse, workers move stack of packages near sorting machines — An Amazon fulfillment center in Robbinsville, N.J., on Dec. 1, Cyber Monday.Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

There is also a network of intangible elements: electronic payments, shipping manifests, customs forms, tariffs, insurance fees and language barriers — any one of which can derail a shipment from reaching its destination.

As Clark explains, despite all the advancements over the last 20 years in moving goods around the world, even sophisticated supply chains are still plagued by delayed data, disconnected systems and a reliance on human institutional knowledge.

When systems can’t adapt fast enough to changing conditions, goods can pile up or arrive too late to sell.

In extreme cases, shipments might be abandoned or destroyed if customs or storage infrastructure can’t absorb volume surges.

“Supply chains exist in the real world — that’s what makes them messy,” Clark said. “The thing that’s most predictable about supply chains is that it’s unpredictable.”

Leigh Anne Clark stands in an office — Leigh Anne Clark at Auger headquarters Monday.David Jaewon Oh for NBC News

A family affair

For Leigh Anne, the decision to engage full-time with Auger was shaped partly by seeing supply chain dysfunctions in fashion and cosmetics, in which margins are thin, timing is critical, and mistakes become waste.

Leigh Anne first began showing up at the Auger offices in an informal capacity, she said, doing jack-of-all-trades tasks. But she quickly realized that was where she “needed to be.”

Now, as the company’s co-founder and president of fashion and beauty, she brings a “very different type of value” to the company than her husband’s supply chain experience does, she said.

There was a “little bit of bumping around each other” in the first six months, Clark said. But the pair eventually found their rhythm and learned to work together.

As tariffs, political uncertainty and climate-related disruptions continue to reshape global commerce, the Clarks hope their product supports people on the front lines of supply chains.

Leigh Anne Clark, left, and Dave Clark sit across from each other at a table with paperwork and their laptop while speaking — The Clarks at Auger headquarters Monday.David Jaewon Oh for NBC News

“We understand the world basically wakes up every day and tries to ruin the plan,” he said.

Clark wakes up every morning around 4 a.m. — when he gets his best work done. After that, he is on breakfast duty for their two sons. “I make ‘Dad’ breakfast, which is bacon and Pop-Tarts,” he said.

He and Leigh Anne drop their children off at school before they head to the office together.

Dave Clark, left, and Leigh Anne Clark stand near a wall displaying the company's name Auger on a wooden facade wall behind them — The Clarks at Auger headquarters Monday.David Jaewon Oh for NBC News

While they leave the office at different times, family dinner with their kids every night is nonnegotiable. “So we sit down with our kids every night and have conversations, whether they like it or not,” Leigh Anne said.

“Our No. 1 thing is: ‘You don’t need to go to Harvard. You don’t need to have the best job in the world. But you can’t be an a--hole in this world,” she added. “‘So wherever you go in this world, whatever you do, be able to have a conversation with anyone.’”

Pilar Melendez

Pilar Melendez is a breaking news editor for NBC News Digital who has spent the last decade covering crime, justice, and national news.