Meet Tony Koinov, Adobe’s new vice president of multi-cloud engineering

Often times when companies hire new executives, there’s ambiguity into who they are. But when the news comes out, it’s an exciting moment to learn more about these leaders and understand what drew them to pursue this new opportunity in the first place.

As part of our executive introduction series, we’re introducing Tony Koinov to Adobe. Bringing with him more than 15 years of technical leadership at companies like Google, Netflix and GoDaddy, Tony joins Adobe as our new Vice President of Engineering for Adobe’s Multi-Cloud initiative, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome him. In this role, Tony will be leading Multi-Cloud strategy, developing the multi-cloud platform and driving AWS/Azure transitions for Adobe cloud services.

Learn more about what attracted Tony to this new opportunity, what he looks for in ideal candidates, and which Adobe product he believes best describes him.

What attracted you to Adobe and this opportunity?

I have been a big user of Adobe products for many years. I am an avid amateur photographer and have used Photoshop for years. In my professional work I have extensively used various other Adobe Creative products.

And more importantly, the rapid maturing of cloud technologies is bringing a lot of new opportunities for product improvements and extending the availability of tools, services and solutions to new groups of users. I expect cloud services to drastically improve simplicity of use, ability to provide cost flexibility, collaboration for groups, teams and enterprises, as well significantly boost productivity. Cloud tech allows for more complex more advanced algorithms to be used, particularly machine learning and AI, to automate many common manual tasks and reduce the level of expertise needed.

The Adobe Creative, Document and Experience solutions are primary beneficiaries of the new capabilities the Cloud is bringing to users. The combination of my association with and passion for Adobe users combined with the innovation that Cloud will bring made my decision to join Adobe into a passionate desire.

What are you most excited to get started on?

I am joining Adobe to lead Multi-Cloud efforts and am very excited about the opportunity to bring the best class of solutions for our users combining the best cloud technologies available to us.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are big players right now in the tech industry. Do you foresee these technologies to play a big role in your new position?

AI and ML have experienced rapid improvements in the recent years. I can’t imagine a future without them playing a continually expanding role. Only products and services which leverage them will be able to provide the simplicity, speed, convenience, productivity and functionality that users will expect in the future. I expect ML and AI to be a critical element of my work and am very excited about the opportunities for innovation this creates in Adobe’s Clouds and products.

In terms of hiring, what do you look for in an ideal candidate?

Knowledge and competence, sense of ownership, focus on results. When I’m looking to hire someone, I expect that person to bring knowledge and expertise that significantly expands the overall strength of the team. Sense of ownership is critical, it’s important that everyone understands what the final result is and makes the right choices for the long term success. There will be many surprises and roadblocks on the way, so it is important to persevere and continuously deliver results.

What’s one thing people will be surprised to learn about you?

I’m ready to go the extra mile to get that extra result. In my nature photo adventures, it’s important to me to get that magic moment, no matter how hard it might be. Last year I hiked two hours before dawn to be at Mesa Arch to capture the sunrise. I got the shots I wanted, but it also proved to be a great social experience—Mesa Arch is a very popular sunrise location and I spent several hours talking with fellow photographers on any imaginable subject.

First light of dawn on Mesa Arch.

Which Adobe product best describes you and why?

I would say the Creative Cloud. As I’ve mentioned, I’m an avid amateur photographer, enjoy video—which has also been a major focus in my career—and love building beautiful application interfaces. Adobe’s Creative Cloud products are the de-facto standard for creative people in all of these categories.

What’s the best career advice you ever received?

Take on bold challenges, make calculated risk decisions, trust your instinct, deliver results. This is the only way to make something that creates significant impact and I can’t wait to deliver on this in my new role.