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Speakers and Panels

Opening Keynote

Updates on the Illinois Incentive Package and Future Opportunities for Data Center Development

Roger Fahnestock
Keynote

Roger Fahnestock

CIO

Kane County, IL

Adel Haddad
Keynote

Adel Haddad

CIO

Chicago State University

Tom Lynch
Keynote

Tom Lynch

CIO

Cook County, IL

Anthony McPhearson
Keynote

Anthony McPhearson

CIO

DuPage County, IL

Michael Pegues
1

Michael Pegues

CIO

City of Aurora, IL

Roger Fahnestock

CIO

Kane County, IL

Roger Fahnestock is the Chief Information Officer for Kane County, Illinois. Kane County is the fifth largest county in Illinois, 45 minutes west of downtown Chicago, and home to Illinois’ second largest city, Aurora. Roger has led the technology transformation of Kane County through partnerships with the elected officials, department heads, technology providers, and public/private partnerships. Roger has over 25 years of experience managing technology in education, government, and business. During his tenure at Kane County, he has managed the county’s technology strategy including the creation of a publicly owned and operated fiber optic network, migration to data center colocation services, new public safety systems, judicial systems, government finance, and a host of other government systems and services. Recent projects include design and construction of a regional fiber optic network with a private data center that will provide on network services to public and private partners enhancing and improving opportunities for colocation and Infrastructure as a Service technology. Current projects include technology planning for the next generation of infrastructure, middle-mile fiber and wireless solutions for broadband in underserved areas, and addressing digital equity.

Michael Pegues

1

City of Aurora, IL

Michael Pegues was appointed by Mayor Richard C. Irvin as Chief Information Officer for the City of Aurora, Illinois in June 2017. As an Aurora native, he began his career working in various IT Support roles for AT&T and Pepsi-Co in the Greater Chicago Area. Pegues has worked for the US Department of Defense as a civilian Automation Management Officer at US Army Garrison in Vicenza, Italy. Additionally, he has held various senior IT positions in Hewlett-Packard France, Vodafone Hungary and Morgan Stanley in Budapest, Hungary and New York, NY. Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from DeVry University and an Executive MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from Central European University Business School from Budapest, Hungary. Michael is a proud Veteran of the US Army.

State of the Midwest Market

Regional Activity and Future Outlook in Chicago and the Midwest

John Day

John Day

Chief Commercial Officer

CleanArc Data Centers

Daniel English

Daniel English

Managing Partner

Legacy Investing

Phill Lawson-Shanks

Phill Lawson-Shanks

Chief Innovation Officer

Aligned Data Centers

Phillip Koblence

Phillip Koblence

Co-Founder & COO

NYI

Avner Papouchado

Avner Papouchado

CEO

ServerFarm

Sean Reynolds
Moderator

Sean Reynolds

Regional Director

JLL

Kemal Hawa
Moderator

Kemal Hawa

Partner

Kirkland & Ellis

Daniel English

Managing Partner

Legacy Investing

Daniel English is the President and Co-Founder of Legacy Investing, an investment firm focused on technology impacted real estate. Legacy has completed >$3B in transactions across 19M SF in data centers, e-commerce industrial assets, and life science buildings. Prior to co-founding Legacy Investing, Daniel was a tech start-up executive with leadership roles across M&A, corporate development, strategy, and product management. Daniel studied engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and Economics and Finance at Emory University.

Phill Lawson-Shanks

Chief Innovation Officer

Aligned Data Centers

With over 30 years of industry experience, Phill has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of data center infrastructure, network architecture, and cloud solutions worldwide.

As Chief Innovation Officer at Aligned Data Centers, Phill spearheads the identification of emerging trends and technologies, strategically leveraging them to shape Aligned's innovation roadmap. He's instrumental in cultivating a culture of creativity, driving the development of new products and partnerships that ensure the company remains both competitive and highly adaptable in today's rapidly evolving market.

Before joining Aligned, Phill served as Chief Innovation Officer at EdgeConneX, where he was instrumental in developing edge-based network data centers that underpin today’s digital content ecosystem. His career spans senior executive roles at Virtacore, Alcatel-Lucent, SAVVIS (now CenturyLink Technology Solutions), and MCI (now Verizon Digital Media Services), as well as Compaq/HPE.

Phill holds eight active technology patents and serves as a board member for organizations such as Netrality Data Centers, the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), and the Nomad Futurist Foundation. Known for his ability to distill complex technical concepts into actionable strategies, Phill is a sought-after speaker and advisor, recognized for his innovation and commitment to advancing sustainability in the digital infrastructure sector.

Phill’s unique journey—from his early roles in enterprise systems development and digital infrastructure to his leadership in global technology firms—reflects his passion for challenging the status quo and empowering the next generation of technology leaders.

Phillip Koblence

Co-Founder & COO

NYI

Phillip Koblence is a strategic executive and thought leader in the data center and network space. He co-founded NYI (www.nyi.net) in 1996 and has successfully navigated through an ever-shifting infrastructure landscape, growing the company from a single data center in Lower Manhattan to a robust network with executional capabilities in key national and international markets. His leadership, focus on customer experience, and ability to cut through complexity and hype, has positioned NYI as an industry leader in high-touch infrastructure solutions.

Phillip is also CEO of Critical Ventures, a consulting agency offering a range of services to help clients, owners and investors optimize the value of critical infrastructure assets. Phillip sits on the DE-CIX North America Advisory Board as well as on the Board of OIX (formerly Open-IX). Phillip is Co-Founder of the Nomad Futurist Foundation and Podcast, designed to demystify the world of critical infrastructure and inspire younger generations to join the industry. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been profiled by Data Center Knowledge, TheWHIR, MSPMentor, and NJ BIZ. He has an engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Avner Papouchado

CEO

ServerFarm

Avner Papouchado has been the guiding force behind ServerFarm since its inception. Known for his intense business acumen, Papouchado has a proven track record of successful real estate investments. He has served as Red Sea Group’s North American CEO since 1993 and is an active member of the executive management team responsible for the company’s worldwide investment strategy. A certified pilot, Papouchado received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the New School for Social Research in New York.

Sean Reynolds

Moderator

JLL

Sean Reynolds is a Managing Director with JLL and is the co-leader of the Midwest Chicago Data Center Services. Focusing exclusively in tenant / user representation, Sean assists his clients in data center and office strategic real estate planning, acquisition and disposition of real estate assets, financial analysis, lease and MSA analysis, and market valuations.

Specialties

Data Center and Office Specialist.

Years of experience

15 years

Experience

Sean started as an Associate at The Staubach Company in 2000 and worked his way to Principal in 2007. Sean has been a consistent leader within Jones Lang LaSalle and has been recognized globally five of the last seven years.

Sean’s list of clients includes Comcast, Walgreens, Computer Associates, Huron Consulting, UAL, Roosevelt University, Karbal Cohen Economue Silk & Dunne, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Williams Lea, the Chicago Housing Authority, Geneva Investment, Kovitz Investment Group and the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

Key transactions

Comcast (portfolio)

Williams Lea (portfolio)

Chicago Housing Authority (portfolio)

UAL - 130,000 s.f.

Cancer Treatment Centers - 90,000 s.f.

DuPage Technology Park - 72,000 s.f.

Walgreen's - 50,000 s.f.

TCF Inventory Finance - 45,000 s.f.

ASCP - 32,000 s.f.

Karbal Cohen Economue Silk & Dunne - 16,000 s.f.

Quad Graphics - 15,500 s.f.

Computer Associates - 2,000 s.f.

Awards

Jones Lang LaSalle – “Top Gun” 2006 & 2011 & “Top Achiever” 2005, 2007 & 2010

Education

B.A. Economics – University of Iowa

Affiliations

Completed Data Center Dynamics Course- “Design Awareness”

Illinois Real Estate Licensed Broker

Jones Lang LaSalle –Multiple public speaking engagements, seminars and publications regarding data center trends and real estate strategies

Kemal Hawa

Moderator

Kirkland & Ellis

Kemal Hawa is a corporate partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Kemal represents many of the world’s largest private equity firms, infrastructure funds, real estate investors and lenders across a broad range of transactions in the digital infrastructure sector domestically and internationally, including mergers and acquisitions, investments, financing arrangements, joint ventures and development projects.

Kemal counsels clients in complex transactions across the digital infrastructure and telecommunications, media and technology industries. This includes many of the world’s largest data center operators, telecommunications carriers, tower companies, cloud providers, fiber providers, media companies, submarine cable operators, fintech companies, wireless and international carriers, internet service providers, satellite companies, equipment manufacturers and electric utilities.

In addition to M&A and financing transactions, Kemal represents companies in connection with the full spectrum of digital infrastructure transactions globally, including the negotiation of data center leases and colocation agreements, telecommunications master service agreements, licensing deals and other commercial transactions.

Kemal is a frequent author and speaker on digital infrastructure topics and has consistently been recognized as an industry leading attorney in the sector. In 2023, Kemal was named as one of Capacity Media’s “Power 100” – a list of the 100 most influential people in the digital infrastructure sector globally, and was voted “TMT M&A Lawyer of the Year” by an independent panel of judges organized by TMT Finance.

Construction & Development:

Building Trends Across Regions of the Midwest States Amidst Chronic Supply Chain Challenges

Kristen Bejarano

Kristen Bejarano

Director, Global Supply Chain - AMER Region

Microsoft

John Diamond

John Diamond

VP, Engineering

Evoque Data Center Solutions

Joshua Fluecke

Joshua Fluecke

Principal

Syska Hennessy Group

Jonathan Gibbs

Jonathan Gibbs

Senior VP, Design & Construction

Prime Data Centers

Kurt Lindorfer

Kurt Lindorfer

Founding Principal

PARADIGM Structural Engineers

Dave Rooke

Dave Rooke

Project Manager, Data Centers

Mortenson Construction

Matthew O'Hare
Moderator

Matthew O'Hare

Director, Design & Construction

Element Critical

Alan Lurie
Moderator

Alan Lurie

Project Executive

Clayco

Kristen Bejarano

Director, Global Supply Chain - AMER Region

Microsoft

Kristen has been in the construction industry for over 20 years, working for a large General Contractor on various commercial projects including technical design-build federal projects, hotels & casinos, hospitals, prisons, stadiums and ultimately finding her passion with datacenters. You’ll often hear her refer to the book Ready Player One as it helped spark her interest into data centers many years ago. She recently made the switch to the Owners side and has filled the role of VP of Construction for Prime Data Centers. She has found the datacenter community to be incredibly inclusive and has enjoyed working alongside other innovative people. Kristen looks forward to seeing how datacenters evolve to address the various demands of the industry. Outside of work, she spends her free time with her family, going mountain biking, and doing charity work with her daughter through National Charity League.

Joshua Fluecke

Principal

Syska Hennessy Group

Josh Fluecke is a Principal and co-director of Syska Hennessy Group’s Critical Facility Practice. He has Over 20 years of experience managing numerous hyperscale, colocation, and critical facility projects throughout all stages of site selection, design, construction, testing and commissioning, and completion. He is a Registered Professional Engineer licensed in California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri. Josh is also a board director for Chicagoland’s Electric Association and Past-Chairman for the Electric Association’s Consulting Electrical Engineers Division. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from The University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jonathan Gibbs

Senior VP, Design & Construction

Prime Data Centers

Mr. Gibbs serves as SVP of Design and Construction for Prime. With over 10 years of industry experience and perspective, he leads Prime’s physical building development efforts globally. Jonathan’s design and construction portfolio consists of over $15B throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Kurt Lindorfer

Founding Principal

PARADIGM Structural Engineers

Kurt’s professional engineering career spans over 40 years. His expertise includes structural engineering design for Mission Critical Facilities such as Data Centers, Health Care Facilities such as Hospitals and Clinics and Life Sciences Facilities such as Biopharmaceutical Pilot Plants and Production Facilities around the United States and the World. His area of expertise is in designing buildings to be occupable after natural disasters including Tornados, Hurricanes and Earthquakes. He has been the structural engineer of record for conventional “fixed Base Buildings” ranging from 1-23 stories, “Base Isolated Buildings” ranging from 1-5 stories, and the retrofit and new construction of buildings incorporating Fluid Viscous Dampers ranging from 1-22 stories. He has published numerous papers on passive energy dissipation and presented the findings at various conventions in Boston, San Francisco and Milan.

For over 23 years as the Founding Principal at PARADIGM Structural Engineers, Kurt spends most of his time developing new leaders at PARADIGM and mentoring staff in Chicago and San Francisco.

Dave Rooke

Project Manager, Data Centers

Mortenson Construction

Currently serving as a project manager in Mortenson’s Chicago office, Dave Rooke brings a meticulous attention to detail that has enabled him to successfully lead the construction of some of our most challenging data center projects, including multiple projects with QTS Data Centers in Chicago, and currently on the DeKalb Data Center.

Dave has spent his career cultivating best-in-class strategies to develop meaningful partnerships with customers and teams and is known for leading his teams to develop innovative solutions, promote lean principles, embrace safety, and deliver high-quality facilities that exceed expectations.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Structural Engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Outside of work he loves spending time with his wife Carolyn and their two young children. Dave enjoys sports and outdoor activities including, hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting.

Matthew O'Hare

Moderator

Element Critical

Matthew brings to the table an extensive background of over 27 years in the data center industry, encompassing diverse roles such as an IBEW member, technical systems designer & implementation specialist, construction team project executive, CEO of a communications systems design firm, and a co-founder/partner of a data center construction startup. In his present capacity, Matthew orchestrates the expansion and enhancement of assets within the Element Critical portfolio, overseeing everything from financial management, land development and general construction down through the commissioning of critical environments. His insights have been sought after in industry leading publications (BICSINews, Mission Critical Magazine) and has participated in forums and round-table discussions hosted by various thought leaders such-as Bisnow. Notably, Matthew currently holds the position of Vice President on the AFCOM Chicago Chapter Board and has previously led as its President, underscoring his commitment to advancing the field.

Alan Lurie

Moderator

Clayco

With over 35 years of project management experience in design, construction and real estate, Alan brings

to the firm a large portfolio of mission critical projects, including large data centers for high profile com-

mercial clients. In this role, Alan will be responsible for new client development and overseeing the design,

construction and commissioning of mission critical projects. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the

Illinois Institute of Technology.

Edge-to-Cloud Operations and DCIM:

Optimizing Operations for Efficiency and Sustainability

Mohammed Alrob

Mohammed Alrob

Sr Mechanical Engineer

Microsoft

Geoff Hubbard

Geoff Hubbard

Manager, ATC Data Center Operations

World Wide Technology

Rod Elder

Rod Elder

Global Principal

Equinix

Mitchell Fonseca

Mitchell Fonseca

COO

Edged

Kevin Lynch

Kevin Lynch

Senior Data Center Operations Manager

CoreSite

Dave Meadows

Dave Meadows

Director, Technology

STULZ Air Technology Systems

David Klein

David Klein

Founder & CEO

ChilliRack

Joe Reele
Moderator

Joe Reele

VP, Solution Architects

Schneider Electric

Mohammed Alrob

Sr Mechanical Engineer

Microsoft

Mo Alrob is a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Microsoft, focused on Operations and Safety. Mo is responsible for the uptime, safety, and efficiency of Data Centers in the Chicago Metro. Mo graduated from Purdue University with a mechanical engineering degree and received his MBA from Louisiana State University.

Geoff Hubbard

Manager, ATC Data Center Operations

World Wide Technology

Geoff Hubbard is an IT Professional with 12 years of experience in Network Engineering and Data Center Operations. He is currently the Data Center Operations Manager for the Advanced Technology Center at World Wide Technology.

Mitchell Fonseca

COO

Edged

Mitch Fonseca leads the global datacenter product management and commercial services teams for Cyxtera, responsible for product pricing and positioning. With over 11 years in IT infrastructure, Fonseca has experience in product management, operations, sales, finance and business development.

Mitch Fonseca leads the global datacenter product management and commercial services teams for Cyxtera, responsible for product pricing and positioning. With over 11 years in IT infrastructure, Fonseca has experience in product management, operations, sales, finance and business development.

Most recently, Fonseca served as Sr Director of Strategy and Operations at General Electric, where he helped develop GE’s long-term datacenter and cloud strategy and headed GE’s datacenter operation teams.

Prior to GE, he joined Digital Realty, through their acquisition of Telx. At Digital Realty, Fonseca served as Director of Global Product Management for Colocation and Services. There he managed Digital Realty’s retail colocation product within North American, Europe and Asia; driving increased profitability to a wholesale datacenter footprint.

Kevin Lynch

Senior Data Center Operations Manager

CoreSite

Kevin Lynch brings over 20 years of professional experience in the Data Center Industry, specializing in Data Center Operations and project management. He specializes in energy efficiency and system optimizations. He has managed deployments for data center and IT infrastructure ranging from tier 1 to tier 4. He has facilitated more than 125 IT projects yielding over 130,000,000 Kwh saved. Those projects have utilized over of $9,000,000 in incentives for large IT customers while coordinating between customers, engineers, and utilities to reduce project ROIs by an average of 33%. He is currently CoreSite’s Senior Data Center Operations Manager for CH2 a spectacular Tier 3, 169,000 sq, foot 18MW right in the heart of the south loop.

Dave Meadows

Director, Technology

STULZ Air Technology Systems

David C. Meadows II has worked in data center cooling since 1999.  He is currently the Director of Technology with STULZ USA, a manufacturer of precision air conditioning, humidification, and dehumidification products specifically designed for the data center.  Previously David has served as both the Design Engineering Manager and the Applications Engineering Manager at Stulz.  David holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.  David is also a graduate of the United States Navy Nuclear Power School.

David Klein

Founder & CEO

ChilliRack

David Klein is the CEO and founder of DHK Storage, Inc, designer and manufacturer of the ChilliRack® and ChilliAire™ data center cooling systems. David currently has 32 patents awarded for the ChilliRack® system in 17 countries. Over the past 27 years working on networks and data centers, he has achieved numerous Cisco, Juniper, and VMware certifications.

Joe Reele

Moderator

Schneider Electric

Joe is Vice President, Solution Architects at Schneider Electric, responsible for bringing together the full

suite of our products and services to provide complete solutions for our customers. Joe has more than

22 years of experience in strategic planning, business development, operations management, and

system engineering strategies.  Joe started his career with the U.S. Air Force Nuclear program and then

lead one of the world’s largest financial data center portfolios. Joe provides strong technical and

business leadership skills with the proven ability to analyze an organization’s business requirements,

identify deficiencies and potential opportunities, and develop innovative solutions to meet the

customer’s business objectives.

Site Selection & Tax Incentives

Bringing on New Capacity in a Constrained Environment

Chris Curtis

Chris Curtis

Global Head of Data Centers

Prologis

Josh Grodzin

Josh Grodzin

Director, Business Development & Marketing

Elk Grove Village

David Horowitz

David Horowitz

Head of Leasing

T5 Data Centers

Angela Imming

Angela Imming

Director, Technology & Innovation

City of Highland

Judy Ring

Judy Ring

Business Recruitment Executive

Xcel Energy

Ed Sitar
Moderator

Ed Sitar

Manager, Economic & Business Development

ComEd

Josh Grodzin

Director, Business Development & Marketing

Elk Grove Village

Josh has worked in the field of Economic Development for over twenty years.

For the past eleven years, Josh has been the Director of Business Development and Marketing for Elk Grove Village, IL. Josh is responsible for coordinating all aspects of Elk Grove Village’s economic development program. This includes business retention, expansion, and attraction activities. Josh is also the Interim Executive Director of Next Level Northwest (NLNW). NLNW is a not-profit business accelerator.

Josh grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Josh has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from DePaul University and a Masters in Urban Planning and Policy from the University Illinois at Chicago.

Josh and his wife Beth live in Evanston, IL with their two sons Zev and Asher.

David Horowitz

Head of Leasing

T5 Data Centers

David is Senior Vice President, Director of Sales for T5 Data Centers. David is responsible for

overseeing business growth and promoting the T5 Data Centers global portfolio and full

services capabilities. David’s role includes developing the go-to-market strategy for new

markets and leading the national sales team with its strategic initiatives.

David has led multi-market searches for some of the world’s largest companies and has closed

over 300 megawatts and over $1 billion of data center real estate transactions. Prior to joining

T5, David spent 10 years managing data center practice groups for commercial real estate firms.

David’s experience covers; site selection, advising clients on strategic acquisitions and risk

considerations, supply and demand market analysis, business development and client

management, Build-to-Suit/Developments and negotiating complex lease transactions.

David holds a Business Degree from the University of Kansas and an MBA from the Kellogg

School of Management at Northwestern.

Outside of the office, David is an avid golfer, reader and BBQ enthusiast. David is passionate

about mentoring the younger generation and leveraging his network to help others. He is

involved in several charitable organizations including the Healthy Schools Campaign and The

Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. David currently lives in Chicago, IL with his

wife and two children.

Judy Ring

Business Recruitment Executive

Xcel Energy

Judy Ring is a Business Recruitment Executive for Xcel Energy. has worked for Xcel Energy for 19 years. In her current role in Economic Development, Judy works to locate businesses in one of the 8 state Xcel Energy Serves. Judy has worked in National Accounts, Demand Side Management and other areas of the company.

Judy has an MBA from Concordia College and an BAS in Energy Management from Bismarck State University.

Judy lives in Minneapolis with her husband. In her spare time she follows professional sports, the WNBA being her favorite. She is a runner and competes in Triathlons.

Ed Sitar

Moderator

ComEd

Ed Sitar (pronounced “sitter”) is the Senior Manager of Economic Development at ComEd, where he oversees the company’s strategy and efforts to recruit and retain large business customers and grow jobs and investment in key industries across northern Illinois. Ed is a 29-year veteran of the company, where he has worked closely with development partners to leverage ComEd’s reliable, affordable, and clean energy services to secure major business investment wins for the region. During his tenure with ComEd, he has been a part of the company’s competitive business attraction efforts, helping prospective customers’ to navigate a decision to expand or grow in Illinois amid a changing regulatory climate (prior to the industry’s deregulation in 1997, and on to Illinois’ nation-leading CEJA law). He has also shaped commercial energy efficiency policies and programs to serve the needs of ComEd’s large customers and helped support development projects with commitments to create 250,000 jobs over the last decade.

Future Drivers of Demand

What Major Trends Will Shape The Industry and How to Prepare for It

Erin Braddock Guthrie

Erin Braddock Guthrie

Senior Director, Cloud & AI Strategy

Microsoft

Mark Houpt

Mark Houpt

CISO

DataBank

Nabeel Mahmood

Nabeel Mahmood

Co-Founder

Nomad Futurist Foundation

Raymond Parpart

Raymond Parpart

Director, Data Center Strategy & Operations

University of Chicago

Gordon Kellerman

Gordon Kellerman

EVP

Skybox Datacenters

Michael Hafner
Moderator

Michael Hafner

Engineering Solutions - Critical Power & Data Center

Rehlko

Erin Braddock Guthrie

Senior Director, Cloud & AI Strategy

Microsoft

Erin Braddock Guthrie the Senior Director of Cloud & AI strategy at Microsoft. Prior to her current role, she held a role as the Acting Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO) for over two years. Guthrie also served as the regional general manager for Uber Midwest in Chicago where she partnered with cities and regulators to create safe, positive experiences for customers and residents. From 2013 to 2017, she was a client engagement manager and partnership portfolio manager at McKinsey & Company in Chicago. Previously, Guthrie worked as a product manager MBA intern at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, as an account executive at 4INFO and as a business development manager at Nokia in San Francisco. She received her MBA from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Stanford University. Erin lives in Wicker Park with her husband and son.

Mark Houpt

CISO

DataBank

Mark serves as DataBank’s Chief Information Security Officer and is responsible for developing and maintaining the company’s security program road map and data center compliance programs. He brings over 30 years of extensive information security and information technology experience in a wide range of industries and institutions. Mr. Houpt holds an MS-ISA (Masters Information Security and Assurance), numerous security and technical certifications (CISSP, CEH, CHFI, Security +, Network+) and qualified for DoD IAT Level III, IAM Level III, IASAE Level II, CND Analyst, CND Infrastructure Support, CND Incident Responder, and CND Auditor positions and responsibilities.

Mark is an expert in understanding and the interpretation of FedRAMP, HIPAA and PCI-DSS compliance requirements. He is an active member of ISC2, ASIS International, COMPTIA, IAPP, and ISACA, among other leading national and international security organizations. Mark drives DataBank’s information security and compliance initiatives to ensure that the company’s solutions continuously meet rigorous and changing compliance and cyber-security standards.

Nabeel Mahmood

Co-Founder

Nomad Futurist Foundation

Nabeel Mahmood is a Technologist, Futurist and a Keynote Speaker. His career is driven by one question – what’s next? He is passionate about the power of technology to deliver competitive and transformational change and the need to develop digital leadership that will create the enterprise of the future. He believes strongly in simplification, with a purpose. Nabeel brings 18 plus years of experience leading large-scale global technology organizations through seasons of explosive growth via M&A, global expansion, implementing new business models and technology innovation. His expertise includes leading organizations through transformation changes, connecting IT to the needs of the business, technology innovation, Big Data, Cloud, ERP, IoT, Mobility and Data Centers. He brings a unique blend of experiences spanning the entire breadth of technology from Grid to Chip. At, heart he’s a true technologist and futurist, he is a proven strategist, winsome communicator and leader with extraordinary vision and operational expertise within very large, complex organizations. Nabeel is a strategic CIO identifying opportunities that are being underpinned by emerging technologies. He serves on multiple boards and is an advisor to CIOs and CEO across a number of industries.

Gordon Kellerman

EVP

Skybox Datacenters

Gordon Kellerman serves as Executive Vice President, Sales & Leasing for Skybox Datacenters. Gordon brings 12 years of experience in critical facilities sales and marketing. Mr. Kellerman is a leading sales expert within the data center industry completing over 100 MW & 1M SF of mission critical projects throughout North America. Gordon is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and serves as an Associate Board Member for the Folsom School of Real Estate, as well as on the Executive Board of Camp John Marc. Camp John Marc aims to “inspire confidence for life” for kids with various chronic medical and physical challenges.

Michael Hafner

Moderator

Rehlko

Michael has spent 17+ years in the data center industry in various roles centering around data and power infrastructure. Michael has experience working with various entities within the data center industry, from design to project completion, both physically inside and outside the data center space. From the smallest piece of data infrastructure on the data center floor, to large diesel critical power generation, Michael has experience with a wide range of data center infrastructure solutions. Growing up and living in the Chicago southwest suburbs, Michael has been with Rehlko (formerly Kohler Power) since 2021 working on Large Diesel Generator solutions in the mission critical space. With any free time, Michael coaches two little league baseball teams, spends time with family, and pretends to know how to golf.

Innovations around Designing a Network Architecture for Today’s Dynamic Needs

How Are Providers and Enterprises Building and Designing their Infrastructure for Current and Future Workloads?

Vasu Gupta

Vasu Gupta

Head of Customer Engineering

Google

Nina Bhatti

Nina Bhatti

Director, Product Management - Cloud Compute

Target

Judy Berglund

Judy Berglund

Senior Systems Engineer

Dell EMC

Ben Scudder

Ben Scudder

Senior Cloud Architect

Google

Bill Kleyman
Moderator

Bill Kleyman

CEO & Co-Founder

Apolo.us

Vasu Gupta

Head of Customer Engineering

Google

Vasudha currently leads a Sales Engineering team at Google. 14+ years of experience in management consulting, project management, customer success, technical pre-sales, product strategy, cloud strategy and delivery and execution of strategic initiatives to enable digital transformation. She brings a proven track record of managing high performing teams and enjoys mentoring and coaching of junior resources. She is an active #iamremarkable facilitator and a champion of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives.

Vasudha has worked across many industry verticals (including Financial services, healthcare, retail, digital natives etc. ) . She is responsible for engaging with C-level executives as a trusted advisor to enable their digital transformation through Google Cloud. She has led large strategic deals with $XXXM of value at Google Cloud and was the Recipient of Google Most Transformational Deal Award in 2019.

She is an active public speaker and has spoken at many events including cloud summit keynotes and public conferences.

Nina Bhatti

Director, Product Management - Cloud Compute

Target

Nina Bhatti is Director of Product Management for Cloud and Compute at Target. She has over 15 years of experience in IT. For a majority of that time, she has been a Cloud Consultant developing strategy and architecture for digital transformation and hybrid cloud across dozens of organizations.

Ms. Bhatti holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science in Information Technology both from Northwestern University. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, especially her 3 year old son.

Judy Berglund

Senior Systems Engineer

Dell EMC

Ms Berglund is an ITIL, EMC and Cisco certified Information Technology professional with a growth-oriented career history including Management and Information Systems experience. Areas of expertise include Project Management, Data Center Operations, Storage Solutions Architecture and Design, Cloud Computing/Converged Infrastructure, Disaster Recovery/High Availability Design and Strategy, Wide Area Networking, Quality Assurance and Production Support Management. Specific technologies include integrated network management, mainframes, mid-range computers, WAN’s, data communications and server based technologies.

Ben Scudder

Senior Cloud Architect

Google

Ben has a deep understanding of system and application architecture that has been built over many years of running large transformational projects across both on-premise and cloud infrastructures. Helping customers relate their key business challenges back to the financial and technical solution is one of his passions. Currently, he is one of the lead architects advising one of Google's most strategic customer relationships where he regularly works alongside C-level executives to help shape the future of product development to ensure it aligns with the needs of our customers.

Bill Kleyman

Moderator

Apolo.us

Bill Kleyman is an award-winning data center, cloud, and digital infrastructure leader. He

was ranked globally by an Onalytica Study as one of the leading executives in cloud

computing and data security. He has spent more than 15 years specializing in the

cybersecurity, virtualization, cloud, and data center industry. As an award-winning

technologist, his most recent efforts with the Infrastructure Masons were recognized

when he received the 2020 IM100 Award and the 2021 iMasons Education Champion

Award for his work with numerous HBCUs and for helping diversify the digital

infrastructure talent pool.

As an industry analyst, speaker, and author, Bill helps the digital infrastructure teams

develop new ways to impact data center design, cloud architecture, security models

(both physical and software), and how to work with new and emerging technologies.

You can read more of Bill’s contributions as a contributing editor in Data Center

Frontier, Data Center Knowledge, InformationWeek, ITPro Today, and others.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/quadstack

http://linkedin.com/in/billkleyman

https://www.billkleyman.com

Why You Can't Miss This Midwest Data Center Conference

What You'll Learn From Local Data Center Leaders:

  • Chicago is America's 3rd largest city and is home to over 40 Fortune 500 Companies. What do cloud end users want as new technologies continue to push for cloud services?

  • With large lease signings taking up more absorption, what will the data center supply look like given speed to market challenges?

  • What is the cost of entry in the data center midwest market? What new investment potential is there?

  • What demand and requirements are we seeing from the enterprise end users in the midwest?

  • What governmental changes are ahead for Chicago as colocation continues to build in the dense city?

How You'll Do More Business From Attending This Event:

Dive into leasing trends driving interest in the Chicago market, how vacancy rates are at all time lows and how providers are planning long-terms investment intentions for the midwest with high-density in mind. 

Who You’ll Network With:

Owners, providers, brokers, contractors, director of operations, director of operations, CIOs, investors, engineers, lawyers, CEOs, vice president of design and construction 

For questions, interest in becoming a speaker or sponsor, please email our DICE Global Director, Adam Knobloch, adam.knobloch@bisnow.com​​

Agenda

Time Activity
1:00 PM
1:50 PM
Registration, Breakfast and Networking
1:50 PM
1:55 PM
Opening Remarks: Welcome to DICE Midwest
1:55 PM
2:15 PM
Opening Keynote Presentation: The Public Perspective: City of Aurora's IT Strategy and Evolving Priorities
2:15 PM
3:00 PM
State of the Midwest Market: Regional Activity and Future Outlook in Chicago and the Midwest

With favorable tax incentives passed in 2019 in Chicago, America’s third largest city and home of dozens of Fortune 500 companies, the region is well positioned to benefit from the incoming data center demand. With that, what trends are we seeing in this market? Where are the opportunities and the challenges?

3:00 PM
3:25 PM
Networking Break
3:25 PM
3:40 PM
ChilliRack Presentation
3:40 PM
4:30 PM
Edge-to-Cloud Operations and DCIM: Optimizing for Efficiency and Sustainability

With the continued acceleration of data growth, iteration and innovation is needed in today's dynamic environment. How are data center operators and engineers optimizing operations with sustainability and client demands in mind?

4:30 PM
5:15 PM
Site Selection & Tax Incentives: Bringing on New Capacity

With the recently passed tax incentive in 2019 and heightened competition for real estate across Chicago, data center vacancy rates are now close to record lows. What has the impact been of these tax incentives? How has the benefit extended to various stakeholders? How are local economic development players and data center developers working together to bring more space online?

5:15 PM
6:15 PM
Networking Lunch
6:15 PM
7:00 PM
Construction & Development: Building Trends Across Regions of the Midwest States Amidst Chronic Supply Chain Challenges

From downtown to suburban areas, land is limited and comes at a premium. Given the high demand for capacity, how are data center players keeping up with the pace in the face of supply chain challenges and increasing costs? What are the differences across regions and between downtown and suburban builds? How does sustainability impact the design, construction and development process?

7:00 PM
7:25 PM
Coffee Break
7:25 PM
8:00 PM
Innovations around Designing a Network Architecture for Today’s Dynamic Needs: How Are Providers and Enterprises Building and Designing their Infrastructure for Current and Future Workloads?

With enterprises continuing to shift to a hybrid IT model and data center environments increasing in complexity, how are enterprises and colocation providers designing their IT infrastructure with current and future requirements and workloads in mind? What are some of the innovations taking place to ensure uptime, reliability and cost efficiency? How have strategies shifted, if at all?

8:00 PM
8:30 PM
Future Drivers of Demand: What Major Trends Will Shape The Industry and How to Prepare for It

Now more than ever, the digital infrastructure industry has demonstrated its critical role in our everyday lives, enabling increases in productivity and connectivity that have unlocked new killer applications. As we continue with digital-first strategies, what trends are going to continue to shape and influence the data center industry? What will be the major growth drivers of the industry, what IT architecture will be prioritized and how can we prepare for it?

8:30 PM
10:00 PM
Post-Event Cocktails and Networking Presented by Clayco!!

CE CREDITS & SAFETY

AIA Approved for 6 Continuing Education (CE) Services Learning Units

Bisnow is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number 10009309. All registered AIA CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider or this learning program may be sent to AIA CES (cessupport@aia.org or (800) AIA 3837, Option 3). This learning program is registered with AIA CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product. AIA continuing education credit has been reviewed and approved by AIA CES. Learners must complete the entire learning program to receive continuing education credit. AIA continuing education Learning Units earned upon completion of this course will be reported to AIA CES for AIA members. Certificates of Completion for both AIA members and non-AIA members are available upon request.

Our Commitment To Your Safety

We hosted more than 72,000 attendees live, in-person around the globe in 2021. Our commitment to safety is no different in 2022. Our events follow all local Covid-19 regulations and protocols. In the interest of the safety of all our guests, we recommend taking a rapid or PCR test for proof of negative results before attending any gathering.

We will update attendees should any regulations be updated before this event is held. We look forward to hosting you soon to do what we do best: network, connect, and engage to do more business.