Bellevue, Washington
Drury Class of 1971
Year of Election as Trustee: 2018
After earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology, Ayre began a doctoral program in psychiatric epidemiology at theUniversity of Pittsburgh. He then served as chief of information resources management with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pittsburgh, a 750-bed hospital. In the late 1980s, his love for technology and writing led him to an editorial position with PC Magazine, where he eventually rose to the rank of executive editor as the publication boasted more than 1 million subscribers in the 1990s.
Ayre then became vice president and executive editor at Amazon.com from 1996 to 2000. He was responsible for the editorial content of the site and helped build the inviting front-end customer experience the site is known for today. As an alumnus, Ayre has served on Drury’s Environmental Advisory Council. His father, the Rev. Albert Ayre, graduated from Drury in 1946, and his son Colin is a 2017 Drury graduate.