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BRENDAN GRAMER IS BY LO R A ST R U M
BORN DEAF, THE AMAZON EXECUTIVE AND ALUMNUS KNOWS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FEEL UNHEARD. IT’S WHY HIS LIFE’S WORK REVOLVES AROUND HEARING WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS.
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his Zoom call is not going well. The screen keeps freezing and the audio is stuttering. Brendan Gramer, however, is unfazed by the technological failure. Gramer, CJPA ’94, was born deaf and has spent his life finding ways to communicate. This moment is no different. “Sometimes I have to help others understand what I need,” Gramer, 50, says once the technical issues have been resolved and a sign-language interpreter has joined the call. “Everyone has their own way of communicating.” With more than 20 years spent designing web experiences to help people interact with the world around them, Gramer developed apps, content management systems and more before joining Amazon in 2015. Now he is senior manager of user experience for payments. Focused on technological accessibility and efficiency, Gramer has used his skills to make Amazon’s familiar checkout experience work seamlessly for people using SNAP food benefit cards to purchase groceries or for those who want to use health
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savings accounts for health needs. Gramer is also global president of Amazon’s People with Disabilities employee resource group, an organization he co-founded to help one of the world’s largest companies better support employees and customers with disabilities. Through the group, he has helped create the “Tap for Alexa'' feature that allows the deaf and hard of hearing to give the digital assistant visual cues for commands. He also has helped translate the Amazon logo into American Sign Language and add a voice command system to the Amazon Lockers so blind individuals can more easily retrieve packages. “We want to help customers with disabilities by sharing our voices with leaders to allow them to learn more about how we live, our attitudes and our beliefs,” Gramer says. Gramer’s process of sharing his voice was featured — and amplified — when his inclusion efforts became the subject of a commercial in the high-profile “Inside Amazon” series. While it was important to Gramer that the campaign explore the value of making companies function better for those with
