Hussein Syed is the VP/CISO RWJBarnabas Health System, an integrated healthcare delivery network in New Jersey. He is responsible for the organization’s information security program. Hussein and his team are responsible for security management planning and execution to align with the strategic goals of the health system.

Hussein has bachelors in computer science and holds the CISSP certification, has more than 25 years of experience in IT, of which 17 years are in information security. He has spoken and participated at various security events.

Peter Cohen is a renowned peering and interconnection expert who has worked with ISPs, datacenters and OTTs around the globe for 20+ years. For the past seven years’ Cohen oversaw peering and interconnection at Netflix for much of North America. Prior to this, Cohen held network and peering leadership positions with Amazon, Tata, Telia, and Switch and Data (acquired by Equinix).

At QTS, Cohen advises customers and prospects on peering and interconnection and leads QTS’ strategy to broaden and diversify the distribution of peering and network resources including initiatives to create new Internet nexus points globally.

Cohen holds a B.S. in Speech Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is an avid traveler, cook, golfer and tennis player. He lives in the Washington DC area with his wife and their two boys.

Jeff Moerdler is chair of the Haynes Boone Data Center and Digital Infrastructure Practice and a real estate partner in the New York office. He has more than 40 years’ experience in general commercial real estate law. Jeff’s real estate practice includes acquisitions, sales, development, leasing, and borrower’s side financing. Jeff also has a particular focus on real estate challenges facing communications, technology and energy companies, and represents property owners and telecom companies in telecom real estate matters, particularly in data center development, acquisitions, sales, leases, colocation agreements and service level agreements. His clients include both large national companies and smaller, local clients, and includes representation of landlords and tenants in all types of leases; counseling owners and developers in the acquisition, sale, joint venture, development, and renovation of property as well as sale-leaseback transactions; advising lenders and borrowers in commercial loans; and the representation of all parties in real estate litigation. He is actively involved in settling real estate, partnership, and inter-family disputes. He also represents many not-for-profit entities and is active in health care, senior living, and educational real estate.

During the past 35 years, Jeff has developed considerable experience in the intersection of real estate with communications, technology, and energy issues. He has extensive experience representing landlords, tenants, developers, and communications service providers in the leasing, purchase, sale, and financing of data centers, colocation facilities, radio and television broadcast antennas, distributed and in-building wireless systems, rooftop antennas, and fiber-optic transactions as well as the wiring of buildings for broadband communications access. Jeff has also negotiated thousands of data center leases, master services agreements, colocation agreements and service level agreements, rooftop and cellular antenna leases, inside wiring agreements, and antenna tower leases throughout the country – covering over 500 million square feet.

He has also devoted a considerable portion of his practice to power and energy issues related to real estate and other technology matters, including large solar and wind installations, battery storage facilities, and bulk power purchases.

Jeff is a frequent speaker on real estate, data center, and telecom topics around the country. He is Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and on the faculty of the Advanced Commercial Leasing Institute. He regularly speaks as a panelist at data center, digital infrastructure and real estate conference around the United States. In addition, he is regularly quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bisnow, Commercial Property News, Real Estate Weekly, and other publications. He co-authored the first treatise chapter on telecom real law for Powell on Real Property in 1999.

Jeff has previously served in numerous governmental positions, including as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a member of the New York State Banking Board, a member of the New York State Financial Control Board, a member of the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division of the First Department of the New York State Supreme Court, Assistant to the First Deputy Mayor of the City of New York, and assistant to the Deputy Borough President of the Borough of Manhattan. From 1981 to 1982, Jeff served as a law clerk to the Honorable Charles L. Brieant, US District Judge, and later Chief Judge, for the Southern District of New York.

Jeff is also an emergency medical technician on his local volunteer ambulance and President of his local chapter, as well as having served for 8 years on the Board of Trustees of the umbrella organization which is the largest volunteer ambulance service in the United States.

Sean Baillie has served as CMO and Chief of Staff of the QTS Ashburn site since 2018. With over 20 years in the industry, Sean has a deep understanding of the communications market and industry trends. He has worked in the IP, Fiber, Data Center, Software and Equipment sectors with roles ranging from sales to executive management. Prior to joining QTS, Sean was most recently Senior Vice President of Fiber Services at Zayo and held P&L responsibility for $230M business.

Sean has also served as Chief of Staff for Global Sales at Ciena, Vice President of Commercial Management/Global Analytics and Business Intelligence at Ciena, President of 24/7 Mid Atlantic Fiber and Senior Vice President of Fiber Services at Windstream. In those roles, Sean led organizations that either directly oversaw or supported high revenue and margin growth within each respective company.

Thomas (Tom) Brown is responsible for planning and implementing the company’s strategy, and managing the overall revenue growth of the company. Mr. Brown joined Hudson IX (formally DataGryd) in 2018 and brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in start-up, turnaround and high-growth operations. He has a proven track record of success in strategic and tactical market development, creation of brand awareness and customer relationship management. Prior to joining Hudson IX (formally DataGryd), Mr. Brown led the content, cable, and data center verticals within Windstream’s Wholesale Business Unit. From 1999 to 2009, he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at FiberNet Telecom Group, Inc., where he was an integral part in the sale of the company to the Zayo Group. Mr. Brown earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Bob DeSantis is an accomplished executive and entrepreneur who has held senior leadership positions in public and private, competitive and regulated companies within the communications, technology, and energy industries. He has been a leader in acquiring, building and growing businesses and arranging for their initial public offerings and other strategic events. Bob’s expertise spans strategy, operations, finance, corporate law, real estate, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to becoming the CEO of 365 Data Centers, Bob was the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Xand, which became the leading, privately owned, data center, managed services and cloud services operator in the Northeast prior to its sale to Tierpoint. His previous technology and communications experience includes serving as President and COO of cloud operator Flexisphere, CFO of DSL.net, a nationwide internet service provider, CFO of Electric Lightwave, a metro and long haul fiber business, Executive Vice President of core optical switch manufacturer Tellium, and CFO of Frontier Communications (f/k/a Citizens Communications) during that company’s transformation from a diversified utility to one of the nation’s largest telecommunications companies. Bob started his career as a Tax Specialist at KPMG and then as a Tax Attorney with GTE Corp. He broadened his professional expertise by serving as President & COO of the Financial Accounting Foundation, the overseer of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and was named by CPA Magazine as one of the top 100 most influential practitioners. Bob holds both BSE and MS degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School) and a Juris Doctorate degree from Boston College Law School. He is a Certified Public Accountant and member of the Bars of several state and federal courts.

Michael (Mike) K. Robinson serves as Sungard Availability Services (Sungard AS) Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Mike brings extensive operating and board leadership in public and private communications, technology and infrastructure companies to his role at Sungard AS. His focus includes strategy development and execution, driving business transformation, leading company culture, and focusing on stakeholder value. His customer-centric approach prioritizes the needs of Sungard AS’ production and recovery customers to ensure their business resilience.

Mike most recently served as CEO, President and Member of the Board of Directors for Broadview Networks. In his role, Mike led the transformation of Broadview’s strategy and business model from a traditional local telecom service provider to a cloud-based Unified Communications as a Service provider which served to meet the needs of enterprise customers nationwide. Mike has a proven track record of acquiring and integrating multiple companies, as he did with Broadview, as well as focusing on organic growth.

Prior to Broadview, Mike served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President for US LEC Corp., where he was responsible for all financial operations, including treasury, tax and investor relations, as well as human resources. While at US LEC, Mike raised substantial capital to fund the Company’s growth objectives. Prior to US LEC, he held senior roles at Alcatel (now Nokia), Windward International and Siecor Corporation.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Arts in business and economics from Emory & Henry College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Wake Forest University.

Gil Santaliz is the Founder and CEO of NJFX, as well as the visionary behind developing NJFX as North America’s preeminent international hub for subsea communications, interconnecting many international carriers across three continents with multiple predictable, private backhaul and U.S. termination options.

In order to satisfy the market, Mr. Santaliz developed the concept of “Tier 3 by the Subsea”, a purpose-built facility for high- and low-density data center space as well as colocation of subsea systems interconnecting global backbone networks to unique metro fiber assets providing safe, diverse and unique backhaul options. This is a paradigm shift from traditional backhaul to the nearest metro without consideration of potential bottlenecks found in congested areas such as New York and Northern New Jersey.

Stephen has more than 40 years of experience in the practice of commercial real estate law, both nationally and locally. His depth of experience provides him with the ability to provide solutions to complex problems his clients encounter in their transactions. He focuses on sale/leaseback structuring and implementation; development and construction of data centers, distribution centers, high-rise residential buildings and shopping centers; sales, acquisitions and financings of commercial properties; retail, office and data center leasing; structuring and utilization of public, private partnership transactions in the development or improvement of real estate properties; and financial restructurings for developers and other property owners.

Stephen is the co-head of the firm's interdisciplinary sale/leaseback practice, including both single and large scale sale/leaseback transactions and has worked on transactions as large as 600 properties.

He also focuses on the interdisciplinary practice area defined by the intersection of real estate and communications law, which includes the acquisition, disposition, development, financing and leasing of data centers, switch facilities, colocation facilities, radio and television broadcast antennas, distributed and in-building antenna systems, rooftop antennas, and wiring of buildings for broadband communications access.

In addition, he has extensive experience in the shopping center industry and served as in-house counsel to a major shopping center developer in the acquisition, sales, development, and leasing of numerous shopping center properties.

Stephen has lectured on various issues concerning sale/leasebacks, data centers, ground and office leasing; and on a number of topics regarding shopping center financing, development and leasing.

Frank McCann is a 30 year veteran of Verizon and Verizon Wireless, focusing on data center design, retrofits and greenfield builds. He has held several leadership roles within Verizon, most recently leading the Potomac Region’s Wireline Network Construction team. Frank also recently lead the Global Wireline Standards team, which encompassed all of Verizon Wireline’s network facilities worldwide.

Outside of his day job, Frank is on the Executive Board for Monmouth Council of Scouting America as well as Assistant Scoutmaster for his son’s troop. He lives at the beautiful Jersey Shore.

Brett is a mission critical Project Executive and Northeast group leader for the Advanced

Technology-Mission Critical Core Market group at DPR Construction, one of the top technical

builders and data center/telecom contractors in the United States.

His previous experience as Director of Engineering (overseeing the design of over 200 data

centers) gives him a unique understanding of the construction, renovation and commissioning of

complex data center projects. Brett is a valuable team player, technical lead, and trusted partner

with over 36 years of experience in power quality and mission critical facility design and

construction.

Brett has worked on data center projects for industry leaders such as Bank of America,

Bloomberg, Citicorp, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, HBO Latin America Group, Merck

and Company, QTS and TD Bank.

He holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in

St. Louis.

For more information about DPR Construction, please visit www.dpr.com.

Joe Dufner is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Directlink Technologies. At his firm, a colocation facility and technology center, he is

responsible for steering the direction and growth of the company through the implementation of strategic marketing plans, sales growth and new

product development. As a telecom professional, Joe has over 25 years of industry intelligence from his experience leading the sales and marketing efforts of telecommunications carriers and equipment manufacturers, including Windstream, D&E Communications, and GAI-Tronics. Among his peers, Joe is regarded as a change agent skilled in new business development, strategic sales planning, identifying opportunities and business operations. Joe is a board member of The Pennsylvania Community Development & Finance Corporation (PCDfc) a Certified Development Company(CDC), where he works in turning around companies through financing options, investing in new ideas and cutting-edge innovation.

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.

Jim Paterson is Senior Vice President, Global Product Management for Sungard Availabilty Services (Sungard AS). Jim has more than 20 years’ experience in information technology services’ product management and development leadership roles. He has a proven track record of creating products and solutions that address global market requirements and solve dynamic, complex IT and business challenges. In his role, Jim is responsible for global product management across Sungard AS’ solutions portfolio, including: Cloud & Hosting, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity, Data and Disaster Recovery Centers, Managed Application Cloud and IT Consulting.

Michael is the President of South Reach Networks where he will be overseeing the strategy, growth and market expansion. Michael brings 20 years of successful telecommunications experience. Michael was a Principal Executive and Board Member of Cross River Fiber heading up sales and business development (January 2012 through February 2018). Cross River Fiber was successfully acquired (majority stake) in 2014 by Ridgemont Equity Partners.

Prior to joining Cross River Fiber as a partner in January 2012, Michael was the Regional Vice President of Sales for Cablevision Optimum Lightpath where Michael was responsible for the overall sales initiatives, establishing P&L responsibility, maintaining and growing sales revenues accountable for leading the New Jersey’s sales efforts.

Prior to joining Optimum Lightpath in 2008, through a successful acquisition and transition Michael was the Vice President of Sales & Business Development and a key Executive with 4Connections LLC. 4Connections was an entrepreneurial niche NJ Based CLEC & telecommunications start-up that constructed, owned and operated its own independent Dark Fiber network assets. Michael’s leadership and vision at 4Connections helped elevate the firm to become a widely recognized and respected company in the industry.

Michael started his career directly of out college as account executive at MCI Worldcom in 1999 with a direct sales role handling global enterprise & national accounts. Michael has achieved incredible results and success since then. He is a highly recognized sales leader and has held sales and executive positions at MCI WorldCom, TelCove, 4Connections, Optimum Lightpath and Cross River Fiber. Michael has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Western New England University where he also played football. In addition, Michael has been the face to many of the industry’s keynote conferences, panel speaking roles and round table discussions and has been quoted numerous times in the media, press releases and on local TV.

In 2010, Optimum Lightpath senior management and marketing nominated Michael as a candidate submission being recognized as a potential nominee for NJ BIZ TOP 40 under 40.

Michael is a father of 4 children and is very active in his local community in NJ where he and his family live. Michael is on the board of trustees for the Wayne Hockey Club and is head hockey coach for the Wayne Hockey Club and the NJ Bandits travel hockey association. Michael also donates his time as a coach and volunteer with various sports programs for his children and charity venues.

Todd Taylor has served on the Directlink Board of Directors since 2010, and became CEO in April 2017.

He oversees Directlink’s 290,000 square foot facility in Reading, Pennsylvania, including 65,000 square

feet of active raised floor data center space. He has overseen over $20 million in capital improvement

projects at Directlink, which have brought state-of the-art cooling, generation, UPS, and security

improvements to the former First Telecom/GPU regional technology center. He also serves on the Board

of Boscovs Department Stores, Directlink’s parent company, a department store chain in the Mid-

Atlantic region. Prior to his current position at Directlink, he was an applied hydrogeologist with a

practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern

University and the University of Pennsylvania.

As founder and CEO of iMiller Public Relations (iMPR), Ilissa Miller brings nearly two decades of experience in sales, marketing and product development to her clients in an effort to help them differentiate their messages and achieve notoriety within an ever expanding and evolving industry. With a wealth of experience and knowledge in the emerging global telecommunications and technology industries, her extensive expertise and practical skill set have allowed her to implement and spearhead and launch many companies as well as global product and marketing campaigns including that of international private line and networks, IP transit, peering, IPVPN, hosted PBX, cloud computing, Ethernet, managed services, colocation and data center products and solutions. She is a recognized leader in the global telecom and technology space where her knowledge and insights provide strategic guidance that enhance performance resulting in a remarkable reputation for effectiveness and client satisfaction.