DICE East '19

Francisco Salguero

Deputy CIO
USDA

Francisco Salguero serves as the Deputy CIO for the US Department of Agriculture. Mr. Salguero has over 20 years of experience in the information technology industry. Mr. Salguero started his career in the private sector within the technology and telecommunications industry, working on start-up and established organizations. He began working with state and local governments at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as a senior technical project manager for law enforcements systems. He began his federal service in 2005 at USDA Food Safety Inspection Service as a Project Manager in the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Mr. Salguero also served as the Planning & Governance Branch Chief; and then as the Associate CIO Infrastructure Operation Division where he was responsible for the agency data center operations and continuity, WAN/LAN network, and infrastructure engineering. He has served carious IT roles within USDA to include: OCIO/ Technology Planning, Architecture, & E-Government Deputy Associate CIO (DACIO) for, OCIO/ International Technology Service DACIO, and is currently the Chief Information Officer for USDA Rural Development (RD). As the USDA Rural Development (RD) CIO Mr. Salguero successfully led the administration of RD’s Information Technology (IT) portfolio management and service delivery activities for over 40 RD loan, grant, and loan guarantee programs. These programs represent a $216 billion loan portfolio. He provided executive management and leadership in all aspects of the information technology services to RD. He was responsible for providing key leadership in the Agency IT modernization project, Comprehensive Loan Program (CLP), a major multi-year undertaking to modernize the IT systems within the Agency. Oversee the day-to-day operations and provide leadership to manage large complex, geographically dispersed IT operations. This includes managing a budget of over $85 million operational budget and over $160M multi-year modernization CLP initiative. Plans and oversees the RD IT governance structure. Participates in agency budget formulation and oversees an IT investment management process for selecting, controlling and evaluating IT investments. Mr. Salguero attended the Federal Executive Institute and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Strayer University.

Carrie Parikh

COO & Chief Data Privacy Officer, Office of IT
State of New Jersey

Carrie Parikh is the Chief Operating Officer of the Office of the New Jersey Information Technology, the information technology enterprise service provider for the Executive Branch of the State of New Jersey. Carrie also serves as the Chief Privacy Officer for the Executive Branch. In these roles, she is tasked with standing up and administering New Jersey’s first privacy program. She is also responsible for most of the day to day operations of the Office of Information Technology. Prior to joining state government, Carrie served as Vice President, Legal at Wyndham Hotel Group. She was the Lead for Global Privacy and Data Security. In this role, Carrie provided vision, leadership, and direction to attorneys, paralegals and privacy professionals, and worked closely with executive leadership in in a variety of areas including, Global Privacy & Data Security and IT Procurement. Before joining Wyndham, Carrie was a Claims Manager for Technology, Media and Business Services claims at Beazley where she handled complex E&O claims in the tech and media world as well as privacy and health care breaches. Carrie began her legal career as associate at Manfredi & Associates, a small law firm in Hoboken where she practiced housing law representing many of New Jersey’s Public Housing Authorities. After a federal judicial clerkship with the Honorable Esther Salas (D.N.J.), she spent six years as an associate at DLA Piper, a large New York City law firm, where she focused on complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on insurance and securities law. Carrie received her B.A. from Syracuse University and J.D. from Rutgers University-Newark. During law school Mrs. Parikh was named an Eagleton Institute of Politics Graduate Fellow. She is admitted to practice law in the states of New York and New Jersey. She speaks regularly throughout the country on privacy and cybersecurity related issues. She has been featured in Modern Counsel Magazine and has received numerous awards for her work. Carrie an ABA Certified Privacy Law Specialist. Carrie is a Fellow of Information Privacy and maintains a CIPP/US/E and CIPM.

Dr. Curtis Levinson

CISO
MetTel

Dr. Levinson is responsible for key strategic projects and relations for both Industry and Government with over 30 years of cyber security experience. Prior to joining MetTel, Levinson served in a number of executive and consulting roles at leading technology and telecommunication companies, including NATO, Qwest Government Services, Secorix, AT&T Communications, CSC and KPMG

Edward Buck

VP, Technology & Service Delivery
Evocative Data Centers

Edward Buck is the Vice President of Technology and Service delivery at Evocative. Ed’s executive responsibility includes the design, delivery, maintenance, operations, and support of all Evocative services. Prior to joining Evocative, Ed was a VP at UnitedLayer a San Francisco based Colocation and Hosting Company. Ed also founded ASPextra in 2003, a company focused on providing scalable and highly available managed hosting solutions. At ASPextra, Ed built a network and service delivery internet infrastructure compromising of multiple, geographically dispersed data centers serving clients in the US, Europe, and Asia. Ed was a senior manager at Oracle where his responsibilities included corporate business development, technology acquisitions, and strategic alliances. While at Oracle, Ed was deeply involved in technical evaluation, acquisition, and implementation of Internet and e-commerce technologies that shaped much of the Internet ecosystem in its early years. Ed is a regular contributor to a number of open-source projects. He received his B.A. from Pomona College.

Christopher Steel

Senior Director, AI & Machine Learning
IQVIA

Chris Steel is the Senior Director of Machine Learning and AI at IQVIA where he oversees machine learning efforts across the company and accelerates IQVIA’s adoption of AI/ML technologies and capabilities. Previously, he founded a consulting company that led a large modernization effort at FINRA and was also the Chief Architect for Pay.gov. He holds a patent for synthetic data generation using a generative adversarial network. Chris is the co-author of Core Security Patterns and is known for envisioning innovative ways to solve business problems and assembling stellar teams to productize that vision. He is a regular speaker on the AI/ML, Big Data, and Java circuits. Chris earned his B.S. in Physics from Dickinson.

Jeffrey Potter

CTO
Davenport & Company

Jeffrey Potter, CISSP is the Chief Technology Officer at Davenport & Company LLC, a regional stock broker/dealer and retail investment advisor based in Richmond, VA. He has over 25 years of experience in Cybersecurity & Technology, spanning the Finance, Healthcare, and Technology industries. He has vast experience creating and securing software products, highly scalable and reliable services, building highly successful teams, and performing cybersecurity investigations. He has held various roles throughout his career including Program Manager, Software Test Manager, Software Developer, Network Engineer, and Infrastructure Manager for companies like S&P Global Market Intelligence, UVA, Wake Forest, and Microsoft, where he worked on the highly successful XBOX Live! Team. Mr. Potter is also a Firefighter and certified Fire instructor, holding various leadership positions throughout the fire service including Chief Officer. He has served as a Director on the board of the Seattle-King County Disaster Team (DMAT WA-1), is a former member of FEMA NMRT-E, DMAT-NC1 (SORT), and PHS-1. He is a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Potter is currently serves as President of the Richmond, Va. Chapter of InfraGard and Finance/Banking Sector Chief. InfraGard is the FBI’s Public/Private cyber intelligence sharing partnership.

Chris Boynton

Director, Operations - McLean Facilities
MITRE

Vinay Nagpal

President
InterGlobix

Vinay Nagpal is a datacenter and connectivity leader and visionary with over 24 years of experience developing products and technology solutions in datacenters with a strong focus on connectivity, terrestrial and subsea fiber. Currently, he is the President of InterGlobix LLC, a global consultancy firm focused on the convergence of datacenters, terrestrial and subsea fiber. Vinay is also the co-founder of the QTS Richmond NAP and serves on the Advisory Board of the NAP, a Global Internet interconnection hub in Virginia offering the lowest-latency, highest- capacity subsea connectivity. He serves on the Leadership Board of NVTC Data Center & Cloud Committee, NVTC Executive Circle and on LINX NoVA Customer Advisory Board. Previously, Vinay worked at Digital Realty, DuPont Fabros, Tata, Verizon, MCI, Digex, UUNET focused on datacenters and connectivity services Product Management and Development across multiple geographies in US, Canada, London, Singapore and India. He has also previously served on the Open-IX Association board and been involved in building global open standards for Interconnection. Vinay has an MBA in Information Systems, a B.S. in Computer Science. Science. He has authored whitepapers, Blogs and industry publications and is a featured speaker at datacenter and connectivity industry events globally.

Derek Garnier

President
Arcadian Infracom

Derek is the President of Arcadian Infracom and brings with him 29 years of provider experience in datacenter, network, and compute. Most recently, he served as President and COO at Evocative Data Centers, and was CEO of Layer42 Networks prior to that, which was acquired by Wave Broadband in 2015, with Derek assuming the position of SVP Data Center Services for Wave. Derek has held both management and engineering roles at many of top internet infrastructure providers including QTS Datacenters, United Layer, AboveNet Communications, SiteSmith, Global Crossing, Global Center, MFS Datanet, and Cabletron Systems. Derek also moderates industry panels, participates in public speaking, both at industry events and on radio, as well as provides consult for investors and companies during M&A processes.

Buddy Rizer

Executive Director
Loudoun County, VA Economic Development

Buddy Rizer is the executive director for economic development in Loudoun County, Virginia, one of the fastest-growing and wealthiest counties in the nation. He leads the agency responsible for encouraging growth and developing relationships with the county’s business community in both the commercial and agricultural-based business sectors in Loudoun. His personal focus is on the technology arena, including Loudoun’s thriving data center cluster. Rizer has been a speaker at many regional and national data center events, and was the founding co-chair of the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure Committee. He now serves on the NVTC Board of Directors and is on the Washington Dulles Foreign Trade Zone Board of Directors. Rizer works with a stable of companies that include Digital Realty Trust, Equinix, Amazon, Verizon Business, Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Northrop Grumman, Neustar and the Washington Redskins. He also works to market the benefits of Loudoun County and its business offerings nationally, and has extensive international business development experience in Germany, Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Finland, France, Ireland and the U.K. He is a Certified Economic Developer and is a graduate of the Local Government Management Graduate Certificate Program at Virginia Tech.

Allen Tucker

Founder
DC ConnX

Allen Tucker has more than 25 years of corporate real estate experience exclusively focusing on enterprise / tenant representation. His goal is to create and deliver real measurable value for his clients and shareholders, in advising on optimizing acquisitions / dispositions of complex real estate transactions (corporate headquarters, regional offices, land development, contact centers, data centers and manufacturing facilities). This is his passion and commitment to his clients. His specialties include: National Site Selection, Corporate Headquarters Relocations, Mission Critical Facilities / Data Centers, Call Centers, Land Acquisitions, Workforce Labor Demographics, Financial and Relocation analysis.

Rob Rockwood

President
Sabey Data Centers

Rob Rockwood serves as President of Sabey Data Centers and has been with the company for four years. Prior to joining Sabey, he served at CoreSite from 2001-2014 finishing as a Senior Vice President and General Manager. After graduating from West Point and serving in the US Army, Rob earned master’s degrees in construction management and public administration from the University of Illinois and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, respectively. Rob draws on his training and experience as a soldier and business leader to build teams that create the very best opportunities for customers and employees to grow and prosper. He lives with his wife Meg in Northern Virginia.

Lee Kestler

CCO
Vantage Data Centers

Chief Commercial Officer Lee Kestler is a data center industry veteran with extensive experience working with hyperscale and enterprise customers. Recent positions include DuPont Fabros Technology, which he joined in early 2007 to spearhead leasing and marketing efforts. After leaving DFT in late 2015, Lee formed Kopend Ventures, LLC where he focused on management consulting for several firms. In particular, he managed a 300MW development project in Palm Beach County, Florida where Lee led the successful effort to get a data center sales and use tax exemption approved by the Florida Legislature. Lee is an advocate of low carbon and renewable energy solutions and is an advisor to Innovation Crossroads company at Oak Ridge National Labs. Lee attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he majored in Computer Science.

Clint Heiden

CRO
QTS

Clint Heiden joined QTS in 2018 to lead the company’s Hybrid Colocation Sales and Marketing organization. Clint has more than 26 years of sales leadership experience in the data center, telecommunications and internet technology industries. Prior to joining QTS, Clint served as Chief Commercial Officer for five years at another data center company where he helped sell and deliver more than 80 megawatts of critical capacity to customers. He also previously served as President of Sidera Networks and held senior leadership roles at PAETEC, Cable & Wireless America and UUNET. In these roles, Clint led organizations responsible for over one billion dollars of annual enterprise revenue while at the same time generating significant organic revenue growth. Clint received his BBA in Computer Information Systems from James Madison University, where he continues to sit on the Board. Clint lives in McLean, Virginia with his wife and four children.

Sean Baillie

CMO & Chief of Staff
QTS

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.

Todd Aaron

Managing Partner
SDC Capital Partners

Todd is the Founder and Managing Partner of SDC. He has spent his entire career building, operating and investing in IT and communications infrastructure businesses. Prior to forming SDC, Todd co-founded Sentinel Data Centers in 2001 and led the company as its co-CEO since its founding. During Todd’s leadership of Sentinel, the company emerged as one of the largest private data center platforms having developed over two million square feet of enterprise-class facilities. Sentinel’s clientele included numerous Fortune 500 enterprises ranging from “hyperscale” cloud providers to the largest global financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies and health care providers. Sentinel twice built ground-up, multi-asset platforms that it ultimately sold to public data center REITs, first in 2010 via a $375 million portfolio sale to Digital Realty Trust and then in 2017 through a $490 million sale to CyrusOne. Todd began his career at investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. focused on technology and media investments for the firm’s affiliated private equity fund. Todd is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He is involved with multiple non-profits and has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards.

Hunter Newby

Owner
Newby Ventures

Hunter Newby is an American entrepreneur, investor, conservationist and the owner of Newby Ventures. His primary field of interest has been network infrastructure. As Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer and a Director of Telx, he pioneered the carrier-neutral Meet-Me-Room and the development of carrier hotels and data centers in the United States leading to massive value creation and economic development throughout the Country. Since the sale of Telx he has been and continues to be a founder, developer and investor in the creation of multiple network-neutral infrastructure businesses all across North America. Mr. Newby is a recognized authority in the network-neutral interconnection and data center industry. He has served on multiple company boards, is a published author, public speaker and has been quoted in several publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today. He has also been the recipient of numerous awards including being named to the Global Telecoms Business Top 40 Under 40 in 2010. Mr. Newby earned a B.S. in Communications from Drexel University.

Eric Crabtree

Chief Investment Officer
International Finance Corporation

Phillip Marangella

CMO
EdgeConneX

Phillip has over 20 years of international marketing, strategy, and business development experience working in the Data Center, Telecom and Technology sectors for leading service providers. Prior to joining EdgeConneX, Phillip most recently worked for Equinix in various capacities in both marketing and business development. In addition, Phillip had stints at Coresite, Verizon, MCI, Nortel and Globalstar. Phillip was also a partner and founder of a tech consulting firm focused on international technology transfer and venture funding of university developed technology. Currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer at EdgeConneX, Phillip is focused on developing, evangelizing and executing the marketing strategy and ecosystem development for the company. Phillip also serves on the advisory boards for Apomaya and Infrastructure Masons. Phillip holds a Bachelors in Political Science from the University of California San Diego, and a Masters in Multinational Commerce from Boston University.

Tom Brown

President & CEO
Datagryd Data Centers

Tom Brown is DataGryd’s President and CEO, responsible for planning and implementing the company’s strategy, and managing the overall revenue growth of the company. Mr. Brown joined 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 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

Daniel English

President & Founder
Legacy Investing

Daniel English is co-founder and President of Legacy Investing, with over 20 years of experience across technology and real estate investments, operations, and transactions. Before entering real estate, Daniel held corporate executive roles across general management, corporate development and product management at technology companies such as ePals, Revolution Health and the Advisory Board Company. Daniel studied engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and Economics and Finance at Emory University.

Lance Black

Founder, President & CEO
VAZATA

Lance Black is President and CEO of VAZATA, founded by him in 2000. As CEO, Lance plays a fundamental leadership role in investor relations, strategic partnerships, and the day-to-day operations at VAZATA. Under his guidance, VAZATA has developed and been recognized as an innovative, reliable provider in the data center, virtualization/cloud and managed IT services markets. Lance strives to challenge the bounds of technology with products that include VAZATA’s own vStructure™ IaaS platform. His ability to interest and engage visionary IT professionals and industry experts reflects in his 20 years of active, forward-thinking experience in the IT industry. Outside of VAZATA, Lance has served several local charities, nonprofit boards, and has been recognized for his commitment to civic and altruistic work from several organizations over the past 20 years. Lance holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Midwestern State University.

Martin Hannigan

Founder, Board Chair & CTO
Deep Edge Technologies

Eli Scher

Chairman & CEO
New Continuum Data Centers

Eli D. Scher is the founder of New Continuum Holdings Corporation, and serves as its Chairman and CEO. Mr. Scher is also the co-founder of United Internet Exchange, LLC and serves as its CEO. He is an entrepreneur with a broad array of investing and operating experience. Prior to New Continuum, he worked as an analyst at prominent New York hedge funds where he analyzed corporate securities. Previously, Mr. Scher co-founded and served as CEO of GSME Capital Partners, a private, early stage investment partnership, and GSME Acquisition Partners I, a publicly traded acquisition vehicle. Additionally, he was Chief Financial Officer and director of MCG Group a Shanghai-based LED-advertising company, and was the co-founder, President and CFO of Fundamental Films. He currently serves as on the board of directors of HMMI, a specialized manufacturer of extremely large and complex steel components. Eli serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Open-IX Association and previously served as the Chairman of the Data Center Committee. Mr. Scher received his AB from Princeton University.

Wayne Dietrich

CRO
Element Critical

Based in Northern New Jersey, Wayne brings 25 years of diverse experience in executive sales leadership, global strategic alliances, technical operations, business development, channel optimization and go-to-market execution across data center, telecommunications, enterprise, logistics & manufacturing, and research & development environments. Prior to joining Element Critical, Wayne served as the Chief Sales Officer for Cologix, leading all aspects of customer acquisition and management. Previously he held positions of Head of Strategic Alliances at Ciena Corporation where he lead global partnership strategy, technology solutions design and go-to-market distribution, VP of Strategic Sales at Siemens Enterprise Communications (now Unify), progressive leadership roles culminating as VP of Channel Sales & Alliances at Level 3 Communications (now CenturyLink), and various management positions at Qwest Communications (also now CenturyLink), Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent), AT&T Bell Laboratories, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Wayne holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Physics from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania and achieved a graduate degree in Interdisciplinary Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Eric Hulbert

Co-Founder & President
Opus Interactive

Eric Hulbert is Co-Founder and President at Opus Interactive, a Portland-based hosting company that was founded in 1996 and provides services from Tier III+ data centers in Portland, Hillsboro, Dallas and Virginia. With 20+ years of IT experience, Eric provides leadership and sales for Opus Interactive’s strategic development and business growth goals that contributed to the company’s placement on Oregon’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies list multiple times. Eric also plays a key role in the company’s operations and is known for his hands on approach, hard work and determination. Eric studied at Oregon State University and received his degree in Computer Science Engineering. In 2013, Eric was named recipient of Portland Business Journal’s Forty under 40 Award and received the 2010 Oregon State Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers Award.

Mary Jane Horne

Senior VP, Global Network Services
INAP

Arthur Valhuerdi

Senior VP, Operations
DataGryd Data Centers

Mr. Valhuerdi has over 27 years of management experience in the telecommunications and data center fields. He served as Vice President of Engineering for Zayo Colocation, Vice President of Infrastructure for FiberNet Telecom Group, Inc., and previously held various engineering and construction management positions within Bell Atlantic. Mr. Valhuerdi holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College, an M.S. in Information Systems from Polytechnic Institute of New York University as well as a Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. He also holds a Project Management Professional certification and is EIT certified.

Terry Rennaker

VP, Development - Hyperscale
Equinix

Terry Rennaker joined Equinix in 2018 to lead Development for the Hyperscale Infrastructure Team (HIT). The Equinix HIT business services the needs of the top 12 global cloud, technology, and SaaS providers for their global large footprint deployments. Prior to joining Equinix, Mr. Rennaker was a principal in his own project management services company. Rennaker Company provided project and program management for some of the largest data center users in the world. He has delivered over $4 billion in projects worldwide. Mr. Rennaker also held the position of Management of Integrated Solutions Development for the Skanska where he focused on integrating the supply chain including finance, new technology research and development, design, construction, commissioning, and operations of data centers. He served as the Director of Mission Critical for CB Richard Ellis in Canada and was responsible for the successful delivery of a $700 million data center program. Terry was the CBRE Critical Properties Global Knowledge Network team. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and played for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL.

Chris Curtis

Senior VP, Development & Acquisitions
Compass Datacenters

Chris Curtis, Compass Datacenters’ co-founder and SVP of Development and Acquisitions has successfully developed more than 50 projects throughout the United States and Canada. Chris has over 18 years of experience in site-selection, acquisition, and development with particular expertise in complex data center and high-security federal government projects. Before Compass, Mr. Curtis was President of Curtis Investments LLC. In this capacity, Chris worked with clients such as the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Attorney’s Office and other federal customers to help them develop their greenfield real estate projects. Prior to Curtis Investments, Mr. Curtis was a tax attorney at Haynes and Boone LLP responsible for business formations, tax strategy and mergers and acquisitions. Chris received his L.L.M. in Tax from the New York University School of Law, a J.D. cum laude, from SMU School of Law and his B.S.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Arkansas.

Tim Bright

Executive VP, Hyperscale & Enterprise Market
T5 Data Centers

As Executive Vice President – Hyperscale / Enterprise Markets for T5 Data Centers Tim is responsible for leasing T5’s international portfolio of Tier 3, concurrently maintainable and fault tolerant enterprise grade data centers, focusing on large enterprise and hyperscale markets, and build-to-suit pursuits. Spanning a construction, development, and real estate career over twenty-five years, Tim has managed the construction, development management, and leasing of a myriad of project types including data centers, call centers, switch locations, colocation facilities, corporate headquarters and regional offices, condominiums and multi-family rental projects, and raw land. In addition to being a LEED Green Associate, Tim holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture, a Masters of Building Construction, and a Finance Minor from the University of Florida.

David Robinson

General Counsel & Executive VP, Strategic Development
Aligned Energy

Mr. Robinson is General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Strategic Development, responsible for all legal, development and HR matters for the Company. He has been in practice for over 25 years, cultivating strategic relationships, identifying and analyzing development opportunities, finalizing sales and commercial transactions, and handling all matters involving all types of contractual matters globally, business development, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities transactions (public and private), intellectual property (including patents and trademarks), construction, and regulatory matters. Prior to joining Company in 2011, he held senior executive positions within telecommunications and service providers, including general counsel of Con Edison Communications and general counsel and co-CEO of Glowpoint, a managed video services provider, and counseled many other businesses. Before going in-house, he was an associate with the New York City law offices of Kaye Scholer LLP (now Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer) and Battle Fowler LLP (now Paul Hastings). Mr. Robinson received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania (magna cum laude) and a Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School.

Phillip Sandino

VP, Data Center Operations
RagingWire Data Centers

Phillip Sandino is Vice President of Data Center Operations at RagingWire Data Centers, managing end-to-end operations of all RagingWire’s facilities. In addition to critical facilities operations, he has responsibility for corporate safety and security, infrastructure services and commissioning. Philip is an experienced operational and business development executive with a demonstrated history of business growth and operational excellence working in the energy and data center industries. Prior to joining RagingWire, Phillip spent 13 years at Dominion Energy as the executive responsible for running power generation facilities, liquid natural gas operations, and directing key customer accounts. He began his career and spent eight years at GE Energy working in engineering and sales worldwide. Mr. Sandino earned an MBA degree from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas Tech University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington DC Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. Phillip is a veteran of the United States Navy.

John Diamond

VP, Engineering
Evoque Data Center Solutions

Matt Souders

Director, Construction
Vantage Data Centers

Matt Souders is Director of Construction for Vantage Data Centers where he is responsible for the ongoing design and construction of Vantage’s 142MW campus in Ashburn, Virginia. Matt has been part of the local data center market since 2006 holding a variety of roles, from engineering to project manager and director. Starting his career with Turner Construction, he managed dozens of new and renovation data center projects throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan region. In addition, Matt has led construction projects for several house-hold names, including AT&T, Verizon, Exelon, Bloomberg, Capital One, Morgan Stanley, University of Maryland and United Way. He also worked as a federal procurement agent for projects such as the U.S. Capital Dome renovation and the Naval Academy Health Clinic. Matt resides in Frederick, Maryland, with his wife and their three children.

Tamara Prazak

Director, Channel Strategy & Marketing
Cyxtera Technologies

Tamara is responsible for developing and implementing strategy for strategic partnerships along with creating and delivering marketing and sales enablement content for channel partner programs for secure infrastructure provider Cyxtera. Tamara has nearly 20 years of experience in technology. Prior to Cyxtera, she was part of the leadership team that built the ViaWest channel program from inception to greater than 30% of the company’s bookings. She then drove the development and execution of channel strategy for Flexential, formed when Peak 10 and ViaWest merged, which resulted in >30% YOY growth in channel bookings. Tamara serves on the board of directors for Cloud Girls, an invitation only Cloud Technology Think Tank for Women, the CompTIA Channel Advisory Board, was named to the Channel Partners Online 20 Tech Channel Thought Leaders You Should Know list in 2018 and has been a CRN Women of the Channel recipient for the past several years. Tamara has a business administration degree from University of Illinois and when she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her family and running.

TJ Ciccone

Senior Director, Data Center Operations
CoreSite

TJ Ciccone is the Senior Director of Data Center Operations for Coresite in the Northern VA, DC, and Miami markets. TJ has 10 years of data center management experience and a combined 15 years of involvement with critical facilities. TJ is also an adjunct professor for Northern Virginia Community College where he teaches the Introduction to Data Center Operations course. TJ was recently a finalist for the NVTC data center community champion award. Prior to joining Coresite, TJ was a facility manager for a large enterprise provider and the portfolio commissioning manager for another local data center company. TJ is a Navy Veteran who served onboard the USS Enterprise. He graduated from Immaculata University in 2008 with his B.A. in Organizational Dynamics.

Craig Deering

Director, Design & Construction
CyrusOne

Jeff Hudson

Data Center Manager
OVH

Jeff is a Data Center Manager with OVH. In this role, Jeff manages the data center including controlling budgets, mentoring the team, devising strategies, sponsoring projects and proposing solutions. He has also participated in construction management and project management during the retrofit of the DC. Before joining OVH in 2017, Jeff worked for 27 years for a diverse range of organizations including colocation datacenters, semiconductor manufacturing and the United States military. Jeff's varied background in the Nuclear Navy, the high tech field of semiconductor manufacturing and data center management provided the perfect background for success as a systems manager at COPT and a Data Center Manager at OVH.

Michael Whitlock

General Manager
Sabey Data Centers

Michael Whitlock is the General Manager of Sabey Data Centers, Intergate Ashburn. He is a driven and dedicated business development professional and leader with a determination to devise win-win solutions and an aptitude for solving critical problems and leveraging strategic partnerships. He has significant experience managing all aspects of data centers including electrical/mechanical critical infrastructure, capacity planning, security and compliance. Prior to his current role as General Manager, he served as the Operations Manager of Intergate Ashburn and managed all aspects of the Data Center. Prior to joining Sabey Data Centers, Michael served as the Director of Facilities for the East Coast at CoreSite. Michael has over 25 years of experience in the government, commercial and critical infrastructure industry. He has proven to have strengths in team building, staff development, remote staff management, geographically dispersed operations, standardization, vendor management and data center builds. Michael is a huge advocate of building future leaders in the Data Center community. Michael is also an active partner in the data center community, lending his time and efforts to AFCOM, 7x24 Exchange and NVTC Data Center and Cloud. He is currently serving on the board of the AFCOM Potomac Chapter, as the Director of Memberships. Michael’s “can do” attitude, along with his fight to win, has established him as one of the premier leaders in the most competitive data center market in the world, Ashburn VA. In Michael’s spare time he likes attending sporting events such as the Kentucky Derby, NCAA Final Four and various golfing tournaments. Michael also loves to hit the open road on his Harley and having quality time with his family.

Cary Frame

CEO
Polargy

Cary runs Polargy, sometimes into the ground, but most times to good success. He shows up for work mostly because he likes inventing things, with that he is trying to change the way data centers are built. He is particularly keen on figuring new ways to bring speed to the construction equation. For example, after two years of development Polargy launched its structural ceiling system with speed as must have. Today, builders are installing 75,000 square feet in a quick 8 days. On the personal side, Cary is easily distracted by shiny objects. However, when you’re talking to him you will have his full attention; he won’t be checking his text messages.

Tad Deriso

President & CEO
Mid-Atlantic Broadband

Tad Deriso serves as President and CEO of Mid-Atlantic Broadband (MBC), where he focuses on large business and economic development projects and partnerships, maintaining positive relationships with MBC stakeholders and providers of capital, and expanding MBC’s relationships with regional, national, and international organizations. He has been involved with the rural telecommunications industry for over 20 years, working with rural telecommunications providers and cooperatives. He has a deep understanding of the issues and resource needs surrounding broadband, wholesale optical transport services, and rural economic development issues.

Chris Pumphrey

Executive Director
Douglas County Economic Development Authority

Greg Force

President & CEO
Tindall Corporation

Greg Force joined Tindall Corporation in 1988. He was named CEO in 2018 after serving as President and COO for 14 years. Greg is a civil engineering graduate of Lehigh University and obtained his MBA from Georgia College & State University. He is a registered professional engineer in ten states and has held positions in engineering, sales, and project management. Before becoming a corporate member, Greg was the Vice President and General Manager of the Virginia Division. Greg has been actively involved in the Precast, Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) for over three decades, serving as Chairman of the Board in 2012, Chairman of Design Handbook Committee for the 7th Edition, Chairman of the Parking Structures Committee, and a member of the Technical Activities Council. Greg remains active on several technical committees, and he is presently the Chairman of Research and Development Council, as well as a member of the PCI Foundation Board of Trustees. He is a Fellow of PCI and ASCE and was named a Titan of the Industry by PCI in 2014. Greg was the recipient of the Mario J. Bertolini Leadership & Innovation Award in 2018.

Brad Bettencourt

President
Brad's Fuel Filtering

In 1986, Brad Bettencourt founded the first fuel filtering company in the Mid Atlantic area. For the past 33 years he has filtered and treated fuel for every major Oil Company, Fleet, Hospital, Marina, Data Center, and Back up Generator Companies. His customers extend from The State Department, Camp David, The Pentagon, the FBI, CIA, NSA, NASA, and numerous military bases and facilities and extend to the state and local levels throughout the region.

Jeffrey Moerdler

Member
Mintz

Jeff heads our Real Estate and Communications practices in New York and has significant experience in general commercial real estate law. Jeff’s general real estate practice includes acquisitions, sales, development, leasing, and borrower’s side financing. He 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, such as data center leases. Jeff also advises on the use of EB-5 capital in large-scale real estate transactions. His clients include both large national companies and smaller, local clients. He is frequently invited to speak on real estate, data center, and telecom topics. He also writes for several industry publications, and he is regularly quoted in national media. Jeff was a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and led many of its major real estate and telecom transactions. Jeff is the head of the Real Estate and Communications practices in New York. With experience including almost 30 years as a general commercial real estate attorney, he has worked with many large national companies — particularly in the high-tech, telecommunications, financial services, health care, supermarket, and oil and gas sectors — as well as numerous smaller local clients. His real estate practice is both national and local and includes representation of landlords and tenants in all types of leases; counseling owners and developers in the acquisition, sale, development, and renovation of property; 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. During the past 30 years, he has developed a unique specialty practice in the intersection of real estate with communications, technology and energy issues. He has extensive experience representing landlords, tenants, and communications service providers in the leasing, purchase, sale, and financing of data centers, switch facilities, colocation facilities, radio and television broadcast antennas, distributed and in-building antenna 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 and colocation 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 and bulk power purchases. Jeff is also a member of the firm's Not for Profit Practice, Sports & Entertainment Practice and Israel Practice. Jeff counsels developers, regional centers, senior lenders, and institutions on the strategic use of EB-5 capital in large-scale real estate transactions. Jeff has served as counsel to several EB-5 issuers and regional centers, with a specific focus on the real estate law aspects of transactions. Jeff also advises clients in the EB-5 space on all aspects of deploying capital into projects and has experience as well in negotiating intercreditor agreements on behalf of senior lenders and EB-5 regional centers. A frequent speaker on real estate, data center and telecom topics around the country, Jeff has also written a column called Leasing on the Level, covering leasing topics in Real Estate Weekly. He is a member of the board of advisors and regular contributor to Commercial Lease Law Insider, Commercial Tenant’s Lease Insider, and Communications Environmental and Land Use Law Report. In addition, he frequently contributes to Mortgage and Real Estate Executives Report and is regularly quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Commercial Property News, Real Estate Weekly, and other publications. In the past, he has served in numerous governmental positions, including as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (including serving as the lead board member on many large public private partnerships and real estate transactions), 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, he 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 coordinator of his local chapter.

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.

Garay S. "Doc" Goglio

Senior Account Executive, Mission Critical Data Centers & Industrial
Boland

Mr. Goglio has more than 40 years of experience in the HVAC (Heating, Ventilating & Air Conditioning) Service/Construction industry gained from performing trade work and extensive project management. He is also a senior- level resource in providing project development, troubleshooting mechanical systems, and retro-commissioning management. At Boland, Mr. Goglio serves as the Subject Matter Expert for Mission Critical Data Centers including account management, preparing service contracts, service repair, and retrofit and replacement work. Mr. Goglio also supports the development team in providing site surveys, troubleshooting, design review, and retro-commissioning support. He has developed strong client relationships and gained client trust through his ability to solve customer problems and generate solutions offerings.

Jeff Ivey

VP, Strategic Development
CPG

As Vice President, Strategic Development, Jeff is responsible for fostering growth and managing organizational operations across several cross-functional teams at CPG. A data center executive with over 30 years of experience, Jeff combines his extensive knowledge of data center operations, design, and facilities management with his project management expertise to ensure success for both clients and CPG. With an easy going and dynamic personality, as well as the ability to articulate key issues in the category and predict and discuss trends, Jeff is a sought-after thought leader. Recognized as an industry expert, he is frequently requested to speak at national data center conferences and panels for organizations such as CAPRE and BISNOW. He is also actively involved in numerous organizations such as 7X24 Exchange and serves on the Board for several notable organizations, including AFCOM Mid-Atlantic and Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) Data Center Committee. In addition to extensive REIT experience in Government Services and Data Centers, Jeff’s background includes large hyperscale and colocation projects, as well as over twenty years in the telecommunications industry.

Blair Pritchard

Economic Development Market Specialist
Dominion Energy

Blair Pritchard is the Economic Development Market Specialist for Dominion Energy’s Northern Region of Virginia. Blair is responsible for all economic development and site selection activity for Fredericksburg, Stafford, Prince William, Fauquier, Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties. This extremely dynamic area of growth on the Dominion Energy electrical system is punctuated by the robust power requirements of the thriving data center industry. Blair has extensive customer service and sales experience coupled with years of service designing electrical infrastructure for Dominion Energy prior to his current role in Economic Development. Blair is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and currently resides in Winchester, VA with his wife and two children.

Ross Rebraca

VP, Technology Sector
HITT Contracting

Ross Rebraca has more than 25 years of experience in the data center and mission critical sectors of the construction industry. Since 2006, Ross has worked at HITT and is now the vice president of the organization's technology division. He has been instrumental in launching the Technology market sector for HITT, which manages all data center construction. Ross plays an integral part in business development for the technology group given his numerous longstanding industry contacts nationwide.

Marshall Sorenson

VP, Business Development, Sales & Estimating
Shockey Precast, a Metromont Company

Marshall has served as Shockey Precast’s Vice President of Business Development, Sales & Estimating since 2003. He has more than 31 years of industry experience, including Operations and General Management. In his current role, Marshall leads the Business Development team in providing innovative solutions for projects, typically those using alternative delivery methods. With a strong focus on mission critical and specialized structures, Marshall targets opportunities that enable Shockey Precast to develop solutions for and become engaged in large, complicated, fast-track projects, at the earliest stages of project development. He is an active member of the Design-Build Institute of America Mid-Atlantic Region (DBIA-MAR and the 7x24 Exchange DC Chapter. He holds a B.S. in Mining Engineering from West Virginia University.

Daniel Kennedy

Director, Data Center Engineering & Sales
Tate

As Tate’s Director of Data Center Engineering and Sales, Daniel Kennedy leads the data center division in both a sales and product development capacity.  With more than 14 years of industry experience, Daniel uses his vast knowledge of data center disciplines, cooling technology, and IT infrastructure, to develop relationships and present to Fortune 100 companies. An established thought leader in the data center industry, he speaks on wide-ranging industry topics at events world-wide and his research has been compiled into several whitepapers focusing on the subject of raised floors in data centers. Daniel hold an MBA from George Mason University in Virginia and a degree in Electrical Engineering from Cedarville University.

Twyla Powell

Business Attraction Manager
Henrico County Economic Development Authority

Twyla is an experienced business development professional who has worked for 20 years in private sector business development and project management and eight years in public sector economic development. Most recently, in her former role as Business Development Manager for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, she was responsible for attracting capital investment and new jobs to the Commonwealth. As the EDA’s Business Attraction Manager, she leads the Business Attraction program to bring new domestic and international businesses to Henrico.