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.

Joe Kava is the former vice president of Data Centers at Google. His current responsibilities include engineering, construction management and delivery, critical facility operations, environmental health and safety, and sustainability for Google’s global fleet of data centers. Joe joined Google in 2008 from RagingWire Data Centers, a privately held colocation provider in Sacramento, California. While at RagingWire, Joe served as the company’s chief operating officer, where his responsibilities included design, construction, facility operations, managed services, business planning, and development. Prior to joining the data center industry, Joe spent 17 years in the semiconductor industry, working at LSI Logic and Applied Materials in various technical and executive roles, such as process and product development, new product introductions, engineering operations, business development, general management, and IT operations. He holds four US Patents for his work in reactive ion and plasma etch technology while at Applied Materials. Joe has a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. During his tenure at Google, Joe has been a staunch advocate for building sustainable data centers and implementing Google’s cloud computing strategy. He is passionate about educating the global data center industry so that others can benefit from the efficiency best-practices pioneered by Google.

Lee has more than 30 years of experience in all aspects of information systems, strategic business development, finance, planning, human resources, and administration both in the private and public sectors. Lee has successfully led several technology startups and turnarounds as well as built and run world-class global operations. He is a trusted advisor and independent consultant for various organizations in the data center sector and provides interim leadership to emerging and transforming technology companies. His core technical competency focuses on improving the performance of critical infrastructure through sustainable solutions that reduce power and water consumption with application across all industries. Lee provides leadership from business strategy development through funding to execution and his focus on sustainable operations has repeatedly driven value to all stakeholders. Salute launched in 2013 and is focused on providing military veterans with job opportunities. By immersing the veterans and helping them gain experience and skills this initiative will deliver a feeder system to the data center industry and the first step in a career for the veterans. In addition to an MBA from University of Washington and further studies at Henley School of Business in London and Stanford University, Lee holds professional certifications in management and security (ITIL v3 Expert, Lean Six Sigma, CCO). He also serves as a frequent contributor for several industry publications, including Mission Critical Magazine, Data Center Management, Processor Magazine Network World and BusinessWeek. In addition to his many years as a successful technology industry leader, he has masterfully balanced a successful military career over 36 years (Ret. Colonel) and continues to serve as an advisor to many veteran support organizations.

Raul Martynek joined DataBank in June of 2017 as the Chief Executive Officer. In this role, he provides overall strategic direction of the company and its operations. Raul is a 25+ year veteran in the telecom and Internet Infrastructure sector. He most recently served as a Senior Advisor for Digital Bridge Holdings LLC. Prior to Digital Bridge, he served as Chief Executive Officer for New Jersey-based data center and managed services operator Net Access, LLC. Net Access was acquired in November 2015 by Denver-based data center operator Cologix. Prior to Net Access, he was the CEO of Voxel dot Net, Inc., a global managed hosting and cloud company, which was acquired by Internap Network Services Corp. in early 2012. Mr. Martynek also served as the Chief Restructuring Officer of Smart Telecom, a Dublin, Ireland-based fiber carrier which was acquired by Digiweb in 2009. Before that he evaluated investment opportunities in the telecommunications and Internet sector as a Senior Advisor at Plainfield Asset Management, a $4B hedge fund. Prior to Plainfield, Mr. Martynek spent 13 years with telecom and Internet provider InfoHighway Communications Corp; first as a Chief Operating Officer of Eureka Networks and then as President and Chief Executive Officer of InfoHighway. InfoHighway was acquired by Broadview Networks in 2007. Mr. Martynek earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Binghamton University and received a Master Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

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.

Nancy Novak, Compass Datacenters’ Chief Innovation Officer, has over 25 years of construction experience and has overseen the delivery of over $3.5 billion in projects during that time. Prior to joining Compass, Nancy was the National Vice President of Operations for Balfour Beatty Construction which she joined after serving in a variety of executive positions for Hensel Phelps Construction Company. Ms. Novak is a member of the iMason’s advisory council and is actively involved in a number of organizations dedicated to the advancement of woman in business including Above the Glass Ceiling (AGC) who are working with Fortune 500 companies to aid in the advancement of women in STEM, Women in Government Relations (WGE), Women Construction Owners and Executives (WCOE), The World Trade Center Initiative, Fortune Media’s Most Powerful Women and the National Women’s Party. Nancy is a frequent speaker on the topic and has participated in the White House Womens and Diversity in STEM forums. Nancy holds a degree in Construction Engineering and Management from San Diego State University.

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.

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.

As President and Chief Operating Officer for Flexential, Ryan leads the company's internal day-to-day operations across all company functions, ensures the growth of the technology platform, and drives strategic execution.

Since joining Flexential in 2020, Ryan has played a key role in scaling the company’s national platform of 40+ data centers and a 100Gbps private network backbone. His leadership has helped advance the FlexAnywhere® Platform—a unified infrastructure solution supporting colocation, interconnection, cloud, and managed services—to meet growing enterprise demand for secure, high-density deployments.

With more than 25 years of experience in global infrastructure operations, Ryan has held leadership roles at UUNET, SAVVIS, XO Communications, Digital Realty, and Equinix. Before Flexential, he served as SVP of Global Solutions Enablement at Equinix, where he worked across network, platform, and sales functions to support customer and business growth worldwide.

Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from the University of Phoenix.

Tony Rossabi is CEO of Recovery Point Group Holding Company, where he focuses on the growth of Recovery Point Systems, a leader in DRaaS, and other companies within the portfolio. A talented and seasoned executive, Rossabi brings over twenty years of experience in technology, communications, data center infrastructure sales, marketing, operations, and strategic planning. Prior positions include Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of TierPoint, Managing Director for Digital Realty Trust’s colocation and connectivity business unit (Telx), and Senior Vice President of Global Carrier Solutions at TATA Communications.

Jeff Uphues is responsible for DC BLOX’s business strategy, mission, and goals guiding the company’s vision of designing, building and operating a network of innovative data centers that bring best-in-class business services to the Edge.

A tireless tech-savvy executive, strategist and cloud services entrepreneur, Jeff has held C-suite leadership positions in organizations ranging in size from Fortune 50 companies to start-ups including Liquid Web, Cbeyond and Bandwidth.com. He is an active board member for several privately held technology software companies and is co-chair of the New Venture Competition for the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta.

Jeff is a graduate of Harvard Business School and completed undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. He lives in Alpharetta, GA with his wife and two girls (who are known as the Three Texas Chix) where he serves as the president of the Jr. Raiders Girls Lacrosse Board.

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.

With more than 25 years of experience in mission critical construction and design, Lane Anderson has an extensive background in MEP projects and design and construction leadership. Having delivered over 3.5 million square feet of data center projects, Lane is well versed in designing for efficiency to pursue low PUE facilities and has strong expertise in building design and construction teams.

At QTS, he is responsible for Corporate Development, Construction, Design and Strategy, as well as Strategic Procurement.

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.

Al Nielsen has over 35 years of experience in mission-critical facilities, commercial and corporate real estate. Prior to joining CPG, Al spent over two decades with AOL/Verizon in various real estate roles, including leading the team responsible for the rapid growth and development of the company’s data centers. In this capacity, Al oversaw the management of over $300M of data center design, construction and operations, and he played a key role in developing internal talent. Al has extensive training in mechanical and electrical systems including Environmental Technology – NVCC and Systems Maintenance Administrator – BOMI and is a licensed NIULPE – 3rd Class Steam Engineer.

26+ years of global experience in Data Center & Connectivity industry specializing in Product & Business Management Vinay Nagpal is an industry leader and visionary with global experience developing products and solutions in wholesale and retail colocation data centers with a strong focus on connectivity, subsea and terrestrial fiber. Currently, he is the President of InterGlobix LLC, a global consulting and advisory firm focused on the convergence of data centers, subsea and terrestrial fiber. Vinay is also the Co-Founder and Member of QTS Richmond NAP, which is a global Internet Interconnection hub in Virginia offering the lowest-latency, highest-capacity subsea connectivity. He is the Founding Member & Executive Director of Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee (IEIC), an independent global committee that promotes Internet diversity and forming of Internet nexus points. Vinay also serves on the Leadership Board of NVTC Data Center & Cloud Committee, and actively leads Northern Virginia’s data center and connectivity initiatives. Vinay has been involved in the subsea developments in Virginia. He also serves on the Submarine Networks EMEA Customer Advisory Board, LINX NoVA Customer Advisory Board, and NVTC’s Executive Circle. As an active participant in industry forums, Vinay is a member of the PTC Membership Committee, Marketing & Communications Committee and SubOptic Diversity & Inclusion Working Group. Vinay’s past endeavors include being part of the Open-IX Association board to build open standards for data centers and IXPs. As the Vice President of Product Management at Digital Realty / DuPont Fabros (DFT), he led product management of DFT’s Data Center, Connectivity and Managed Services. During his tenure, he developed company’s carrier-neutral data center connectivity and peering services, designed and implemented dark fiber networks and supported customers’ network requirements. His senior-level network-centric positions at Tata Communications, Verizon, MCI, Digex and UUNET allowed his to productize data center and connectivity services across US, Canada, London, Singapore, Australia and India. Vinay holds an MBA in Information Systems, a B.S. in Computer Science, an ITIL certification and a Higher Diploma in Software Engineering. He has authored white papers, blogs, and industry publications on datacenter and connectivity services. He has been invited a speaker to several renowned conferences across the world.

Rick Waddle leads STACK’s construction and development efforts to address increasing client demand for the company’s HYPER STACK™, POWER STACK™, and READY STACK™ products. He has focused throughout his career on consistently delivering innovative data centers to meet the needs of enterprise and hyperscale clients. Rick specializes in the design and construction of large, highly reliable, purpose-built data centers. Prior to STACK, he was Vice President of Development for DuPont Fabros Technology, where he led over 200 MW of data center construction. Rick also held senior positions at AOL and was most recently Senior Director of Facilities Operations and Construction, overseeing the construction and operation of the company’s domestic and international data centers, call centers, and office space. His experience includes commercial real estate roles with Centennial Management and LaSalle Partners. Rick is certified in facilities operations by BOMA and IFMA and is a Licensed Class A General Contractor.

In his role as Sales Engineer at Tindall Corporation, Spenser Hines manages Tindall’s preconstruction services in the greater Washington metropolitan area. As a Professional Engineer with more than a decade of expertise in the precast concrete industry, Hines leverages his in-deep knowledge of precast design and construction to provide customers with innovative solutions while delivering the best and most-informed service possible. He attributes his ability to offer creative solutions to his customers’ challenges to Tindall’s position at the forefront of precast construction technology. Hines earned his Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University. When he’s not helping the Tindall team push the boundaries of what’s possible with precast concrete, he enjoys spending time with his young family, watching his children learn and grow, and golfing.

Tamara Budec joined Digital Realty in April 2013 as VP Portfolio Operations. Since then, Tamara has held various roles in Operations, Design & Construction and Colocation Interconnection Service Delivery, with her current role as VP of Implementation Services. Prior to Digital Realty, Ms. Budec was VP Critical Systems and Engineering with Goldman Sachs & Co where she was responsible for risk management of the firm’s business critical environments and held various roles supporting service fulfilment including provisioning of compute and network infrastructure. Tamara has received BS (Dipl. Eng. Arch) degree from Zagreb University, Croatia and Masters from Cornell University.

John Armsby is the technical director for implementation services at Digital Realty Trust. John started in the industry 24 years ago in 1997 as a cabling technician, and then shifted to Data Center Operations in 1999.

As he worked his way up through Data Center operations from junior tech to dDirector DCOps, he has shifted to Digital Realty's Implementations team as of 2015, focusing on customer buildouts within the white space environment.

An industry expert in the design and construction of high-reliability and mission-critical facilities, Rob excels in complicated, multi-faceted projects and connecting stakeholders. He is spearheading the growth of the engineering team in the Washington DC region and heads the region’s mission-critical studio. With more than a decade of experience in the nation’s capital, Rob is passionate about helping find solutions that make lives better. Rob is a registered engineer and architect with an appreciation for incorporating different perspectives to achieve the best results for his projects.

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.

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.

Chris Sharp has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with an extensive background in developing technology strategies in global markets. He has a deep knowledge of the data center sector and is well positioned to expand technical innovation at Digital Realty. Most recently, he was responsible for cloud innovation at Equinix, where he led the development of innovative cloud services solutions and developed new capabilities enabling next-generation, high-performance exchange and interconnection solutions, facilitating broad commercial adoption of cloud computing on a global basis. Previously, Mr. Sharp held leadership positions at top network and colocation providers, including Qwest Communications, MCI/Verizon Business and Reliance Globalcom.

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.

Ross joined Turner’s Mid-Atlantic office in 2010 as a field engineer after graduating from Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Building Construction. Ross spent most of his early career in operations working on projects across a variety of market segments advancing to help lead the Special Projects Division as the Estimating & Preconstruction Manager in 2014 and as the Business Development Manager in 2018.

In early 2021, Ross joined Turner’s Global Critical Facilities market segment group where he serves as the regional team lead for data center work in the Mid-Atlantic and as the account manager for several hyperscale and colocation clients for projects across North America.

Michael has been leading high-impact data center development and construction projects for ~15 years. As SVP, Design and Construction at Aligned, Michael is responsible for the development of cutting-edge data center campuses, ensuring alignment of performance with best-in-industry design, efficiency, and operational objectives, as well as speed-to-market targets.

Prior to Aligned, Michael served as Regional Director, Construction Management for Equinix, Sr. Project Manager at DPR Construction and Builder, Drees Homes.

12 years of multi-discipline electrical and mechanical engineering experience in the data center industry

As General Manager/Vice President of Data Aire, Eric’s goal is to serve the project delivery process first and foremost. By understanding the drivers for each of the various stakeholders, Data Aire can help achieve customers’ goals. Eric seeks to build a strategic partnership vs. inserting the company’s products at a transactional level. In his role as National Sales Director for Data Aire’s parent company, Construction Specialties for 11 years, Eric improved key account development from 10-30% and was instrumental in reorganizing the sales and product management teams across multiple business units for a collaborative and scalable sales approach. Eric takes great pride in people development -- nurturing a diverse team as they grow in their career.

An accomplished executive, Lindsey brings together expertise in project development for both data centers and renewable energy. Lindsey led the advancement of several hundred megawatts of data center pipelines across the US and Europe, and her renewable energy development experience extends to the US, Canada and parts of South America.

Prior to joining CleanArc, Lindsey served as Vice President of Project Development at CyrusOne, a leading global data center developer and operator specializing in delivering state-of-the-art digital infrastructure solutions across the globe. At CyrusOne, she led the global Project Development team and was responsible for the strategy, execution, and delivery of the company’s organic data center development projects. Prior to this role, Lindsey served as CyrusOne’s Senior Corporate Counsel of Real Estate & Construction, working alongside the company’s U.S. and global site selection and construction teams in all aspects of site selection and development. Previously, Lindsey served as Senior Attorney for the Americas division of RES Group, the world’s largest independent renewable energy company, where she represented the organization in various matters related to the development and construction of utility scale renewable energy projects. Lindsey began her career as an attorney in private practice focused on commercial and industrial real estate.

Lindsey holds an AB in English from Duke University, a JD from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and an Executive MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology.

As Chief Real Estate Officer, Mario Calderone is responsible for all aspects of Serverfarm’s commercial real estate portfolio, including acquisitions, leasing, management, financing and disposition. A seasoned real estate industry professional, Calderone has an established track record of successful value creation across a broad range of investment assets.

Prior to joining Serverfarm, Calderone founded and operated Alpine Investment Company, a private investment company that he operated for more than 15 years. During this period, he was responsible for over $500 million of successful investment or capitalization of commercial assets involving entities such as General Electric, Global Exchange, Royal Ahold, ATT Corporation, and Verizon. Calderone also spent several years as Asset Management Vice President for a regional development firm with an office and industrial portfolio totaling more than 2 million square feet. During his tenure, the company successfully built and leased over 700,000 square feet of commercial space. Calderone started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Calderone received a Master’s Degree in Corporate Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Temple University.

Ben has over 15 years of commercial real estate experience and specializes in complex capital markets transactions and detail-oriented analytical solutions.

His transactions range in size from $30M to $250M+, including over 50 MW of data center sales, 4 million square feet of commercial office sales, and 900,000 square feet of new ground leases. Known as a data center real estate specialist, Ben is well-versed in the complexities of mission-critical facilities and serves as the capital markets expert for Cushman & Wakefield’s Data Center Advisory Group.

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.

Mike has more than 30 years of sophisticated and broad-based real estate experience representing clients in buying, selling, developing, leasing and financing real estate assets in all asset classes. Since 2010, he has been at the forefront of the expanding, multi-disciplinary data center, digital infrastructure and IT commercial contracting fields that straddle real estate and technology. Mike was named the 2023 Lawyer of the Year in Chicago for Privacy and Data Security Law by Best Lawyers. He is in-demand for presentations at digital infrastructure conferences and is often quoted in trade periodicals.

Mike's clients include insurance companies, Fortune 500 companies, pension funds, investment advisers, enterprise companies, financial institutions, real estate developers, high-tech companies and data center developers/providers. His recent transactions include representing multiple platform data center companies in acquiring land for development, developing data centers and entering into leases and master services agreements with major technology companies; acquiring operating data centers for private equity-backed real estate and technology funds; representing a financial services client in the outsourcing of all of its legacy IT infrastructure supporting its banking operations and applications, including mission-critical banking applications; negotiating joint venture agreements related to the development of data centers and multi-family developments; and representing a real estate investment company in the sale of a carrier hotel/data center in a major US market.

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.

For more than 10 years, Donna has served as ISC Technology Service’s IT Sr. Director of Infrastructure Operations at the University of Pennsylvania – Data Center Management, Network Operations, Enterprise Automation, and other associated Infrastructure disciplines. She is responsible for leading the ISC Operations’ team and its transition to implement the ITIL methodology into day to day operations, infusing enterprise automation within the Operations environment, and implementation of a Quality Management System. The organization conforms to the ISO 9001:2015 quality standard. In this (and previous) roles, Donna has traditionally been brought in to transform organizations into more efficient, high performance operations. She is also an adjunct faculty member for Wilmington University’s Graduate and Undergraduate Programs in Technology. Professionally, Donna holds Board positions in the AFCOM Midlantic, 7x24 Exchange Delaware Valley, and Liberty Valley Association of Contingency Planners organizations. Donna holds a B.A. from Neumann University and an MBA from Wilmington University.

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.

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.

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.

Arnett Thomas, II is a senior technology and business leader with over 25 years of building, developing and managing high performance networks and organizations for both Fortune 500 high-tech firms and startups. He is highly experienced in directly and indirectly leading cross-functional national and global sales, product, engineering and operations teams. Thomas is a strategic thinker with strong communications skills possessing a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Dawane is the Division Vice President of Voice, Wireless and Platforms for Verizon’s

Partner Solutions organization. He is a 20+ year Telecommunications and IT

veteran with strategy, sales, marketing and operations experience.

In Dawane’s current role, he leads a Global organization responsible for product line

management and sales of Voice, Mobility, Cybersecurity, Data Center Collocation

and Application Services. He also drives the integration programs designed to help

drive account traction of the Next Generation product portfolio offerings from

Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M), Over-the-Top (OTT), Digital

Advertising and Machine Learning. Dawane’s team helps to identify emerging sales

strategies, technology shifts and also develops new models to address the rapidly

growing ‘as a service’ market.

Dawane was a member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Cloud Carrier Working Group and Board member of the Cloud Exchange Forum. He

holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications from James Madison

University and lives in Ashburn, VA with his wife and two children.

Lily Yusupova is a technology industry professional, having spent the last 16 years assisting her customers in the full range of the data center life cycle. Currently, she is a Strategic Account Executive at Schneider Electric and is responsible for bringing together the full suite of Schneider Electric solutions to provide right-sized, cost-effective, risk-based, innovative data center solutions for Cloud, Colo, Edge, and Telecommunication customers. She has taken a strong interest in what is the Edge, the solutions we need to support the Edge, and is currently part of the OIX committee defining the Edge. Lily prides herself on taking a consultative approach to understand her customer’s capabilities and challenges and offering innovative solutions.

Ms Hulbert is CEO of Opus Interactive. Shannon has led the strategy and vision for the cloud provider since 2011. Prior to cloud, Shannon was in the utility energy-efficiency sector for 8 years. Opus Interactive is a hybrid and multicloud solutions provider with a dedicated FEDRAMP Moderate Ready IaaS/PaaS environment and can be found on the FedRAMP marketplace under OpusGov (OG). OG is housed inside of FISMA High faciliites, operated by screened US citizens. This environment is restricted to US federal, state, local and tribal governments, and their partners - backed by over 24 years of proven reliability in the commercial sector.

Wole Moses is Director of Cloud Solutions for Microsoft Federal. In his role, Wole is responsible for digging deep into customer business problems with a view on how AI, IOT and other cloud technologies can help drive transformation.

Wole has 21 years of experience in the technology industry and during this time has worked with both commercial and public sector organizations to help them leverage innovation and best practices across both segments. During his career at Microsoft he has led product management at Microsoft Headquarters, and led technical sales strategy in various field sales roles. He also spent 4 years working for Microsoft Middle East and Africa (while based in Istanbul Turkey and Dubai UAE).

Wole regularly presents at national and international conferences to share the latest Microsoft security, and cloud solutions and best practices.

In his time away from work he enjoys history, travel (pre-pandemic), working out and music.

Ms. Warren has a unique combination of emerging technology engineering and leadership experience within government and technology driven environments. She has extensive experience in developing and acquiring cloud and IT strategic solutions for CIO’s in the US Federal government. She has a proven ability to maximize performance of IT organizations, including standing up and executing Department-level cloud and cyber programs. She is an accomplished technology leader, adept at strategy, building team-work and cooperation, and driving solutions. She has a demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with multiple government agencies, customers, executive management, and staff, and promote mutual understanding and problem resolution. Since 2013, she has been leading the IT Modernization, Enterprise Technology Adoption and Cloud Engineering emerging market concentration at MITRE, including research and application of new models, methods, tools and approaches across the Federal Government. She is the author of MITRE’s Enterprise Cloud Adoption Framework (ECAF), which has been used successfully by multiple government departments and agencies to strategize, design, plan and adoption cloud on an enterprise scale. Specific areas of expertise include:

• Enterprise Cloud Adoption Strategy and Leadership

• Information Technology Leadership, Governance and Management

• Strategic Planning

• Integrated Emerging Technology Adoption and Adaptation

• Cross-Government Information Sharing

• IT Management Best Practices

• Cyber Security and Business Continuity certified

• SAFe Agile Certified

Matthew Eid-Holm is a Vice President at Deutsche Bank in the Credit Solutions and Direct Lending group. Matthew is responsible for the bank’s balance sheet datacenter financing globally and has completed a large number of financing commitments in the digital infrastructure sector across the USA, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific to fund construction, M&A, refinancing and recapitalizations.

James Grice, co-leader of the global Data Centers and Digital Infrastructure Team, works with clients in high-growth potential industries, advising on transactions and projects around the world. Beyond his deep experience in general commercial real estate, Jim has distinguished himself in the data center and renewable energy sectors. No matter where his clients need him - or what they need - Jim skillfully pairs his intimate understanding of project finance with his exceptional experience with tax incentives to help clients structure deals to their best advantage.

Public companies, REITs, private equity firms and real estate companies of all sizes rely on Jim to help them efficiently and effectively work through the many facets of their complex projects. Whether it be addressing state and local tax issues or working through the maze of entitlements, permitting and environmental approvals, Jim adeptly guides clients to great results.

Andy Stewart joined Evoque Data Center Solutions in June 2020. As President & CEO, he is responsible for setting and managing the strategic priorities of the company, leading Evoque into its next phase of global growth and profitability. Andy is a results-driven executive with a unique mix of technology, finance, and operations experience.

Miles Loo Jr., CRE, FRICS, joined Newmark Valuation & Advisory in 2017 in the Downtown Los Angeles office, where he serves as Vice Chairman and the Global Lead for Newmark Valuation & Advisory’s Data Centers & Life Science group. Miles is well recognized as the industry’s leading appraiser of data center properties. His experience includes advising private equity funds, institutional investors, large pension funds, Fortune 500 companies, cloud companies and Global IT conglomerates on investments in all types of data centers, including mission critical, disaster recovery data centers, colocation facilities, carrier hotels, internet gateways and life science properties. These assignments have involved data centers owned and/or operated by Fortune 500 companies across numerous industries as well as Uptime Institute Site Certified Tier III and Tier IV facilities; U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Platinum, Gold and Silver buildings; and state and federal disaster recovery data centers. Miles has led valuations of large individual and portfolio valuations spanning multiple countries across six continents (NA, EMEA, APAC, LATAM and African regions) and has consulted on a number of the world’s largest data centers.

Dr. Nicole K. Henley has worked in information technology for the past 20 years. She is the Site Server Operations Manager for Google Data Centers in Loudoun County, Virginia, focusing on deploying and maintaining Google's world class infrastructure. Dr. Henley has held technology positions in multiple industries such as banking, aviation, the Federal Government, and healthcare, and she was also enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Prior to Google, she served as Vice President of Technology, overseeing the Data Center and Information Security Program for Emprise Bank. Dr. Henley has a successful track record of leading and recruiting diverse teams. She is passionate about the creativity, unity, and awareness that diversity brings to the workplace.

Dr. Henley holds several degrees and certifications in Information Technology and Cyber Security. She holds a Bachelor of Science in information technology, Master of Science in information systems, and Doctor of Management in organizational leadership. She received professional recognition from the Wichita Business Journal for becoming a Certified Banking Cyber Security Manager.

Develops strategies for applications of precast/prestressed concrete building systems in the data center space. Leads the effort to engage technical staff in the design-assist effort of very fast-track projects, at the earliest stages of development. Works with end-users and their agents to create unique designs and unusual applications of precast concrete building systems.

Drives Metromont’s practice of acting as a specialty precast subcontractor in the data center -- and not just the manufacturer of various precast parts and pieces. Metromont can self-perform 100% of the precast concrete work, beginning from structured design-assist engagement, through field erection of "all-precast" buildings.

Leads the activities of Metromont’s VA Sales staff in pursuit of projects primarily in Virginia’s Data Center Alley, but across the U.S. Metromont has the capability of extending its reach beyond this area, on certain projects, where organizational strengths, financial capacity, and past experience -- particularly with regard to mission-critical projects -- are required.

35 years experience in the precast/prestressed concrete industry, including responsibilities for nearly every aspect of the ", get work" and "do work" functions. Directly involved in preconstruction through contract, in 20M SF of all precast data centers.

Marshall is a 7x24 Exchange DC Chapter Board of Directors member and a member of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA).

Having spent nearly a quarter-century in the field of economic development, John

serves as Director of Business Development for the Prince George’s County’s

Economic Development Corporation (EDC), where he markets the County’s key-

location-assets to expanding and relocating firms.

Working closely with federal, state, county and local government agencies, John

provides guidance to firms in navigating regulatory permitting and zoning processes and

policy, assist firms in accessing public-funding and tax-incentives resources that

mitigate relocation and expansion project-cost, as well as connects those firms to

potential private-equity partners. Additionally, John assists firms in identifying on-market

and off-market building-and-sites that meet client-specific requirements and serves as

Prince George’s County’s Opportunity Zone (OZ) Representative, helping to attract OZ

investment to the County.

John previously served as the Deputy Director at Dorchester County Maryland’s

Department of Economic Development and spent nearly 10 years at the Maryland

Department of Commerce (formerly Maryland Department of Business and Economic

Development), serving as Senior Marketing Executive for the Finance, Insurance and

Real Estate (FIRE) industry-sector recruitment team. In addition, John has served on

various local boards, and was recently appointed to the local New Market Tax Credit

(NMTC) Advisory Board.

John earned a BS degree in Business Administration from Southeastern University, and

his MBA from Wilmington University.

He is a 20-year member of the Maryland Economic Development Association, and

resides in Bowie, Maryland.

Adam Knobloch has been involved in the commercial real estate event and media space since 2010, having held roles in sales, account management, production and coordination. He joined Bisnow Media as the Global Director of Data Centers after having led event sales and strategy efforts in the CRE space for nearly a decade. Since 2012, he has found a significant passion for the data center and technology sectors, while building an international network of active followers across numerous asset classes in the US, UK, Canada and Ireland. In his current role, Adam oversees Bisnow Media's event and sponsored media strategy for the data center sector, having expanded its Datacenter Investment Conference & Expo (DICE) Series event offerings to more than 15 markets, with an international presence in the UK and Canada.

He previously held a board member role on the Telecom Exchange (TEX) Advisory Board, collaborating on content, speaker recommendations and event strategy. Additionally, he has made a point of promoting local and national organizations with a focus on STEM education and advancing the next generation into the technology sector through support, collaboration and ambassadorship. Notable organizations include the Nomad Futurist Academy, Infrastructure Masons, H5 Data Centers' STEM Fest and local chapters of both 7X24 Exchange and AFCOM.

In his personal life, Adam is a musician, having toured the east coast as the drummer of The Gantry. He was a frequent member of the NYC folk/indie rock music scene and is currently the drummer for A.M. County.

Adam holds a Bachelor's Degree of Business Administration from American University's Kogod School of Business, with a focus on Marketing and Public Relations.

Chris Flynn brings more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience and well over $25 billion in overall real estate transaction experience to Strategic Data Center Fund Manager, LLC. As Chief Investment Officer, Chris provides the strategic vision to turn business goals into actionable plans with appropriate risk management. In this role, he is responsible for acquisitions, leasing and management strategy.

Prior to Strategic Data Center Fund Manager, LLC, Chris was President at Lightstone Data Fund where he served as the company’s leader in the investment of digital infrastructure assets. In this capacity, he had overall responsibility for the strategic planning, capital raising, financing, acquisitions, development, operation and leasing.

Prior to joining Lightstone, Chris was a Vice President of Global Real Estate at EdgeConneX, a wholesale data center owner and developer, where he was responsible for all aspects of real estate including the acquisition and development of 40 data centers in the U.S., Canada, Europe and South America. The EdgeConneX portfolio consisted of over 3 million square feet, in excess of 350 megawatts of critical power and over $6 billion worth of data center transactions which helped EdgeConneX to grow from one data center in 2013 to a global presence in the edge and hyperscale market.

He was formerly the Director of Real Estate at XO Communications, a telecommunications company owned by Verizon Communications which provides managed and converged internet protocol network services for small and medium-sized enterprises. During his time at XO, Chris led a real estate team responsible for over $10 billion in acquisitions, renewals and dispositions and managed over 50,000 telecom license agreements. Chris serves on the board of directors for The First Tee of Washington, D.C. and volunteers at Stone Ridge School and Mater Dei School.

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.

Mr. Hochanadel joined the firm in 2020. As Managing Director and Head of Digital Assets, he is responsible for leading Harrison Street’s digital real estate business and defining strategy for the digital sector, establishing key initiatives and executing the sourcing, analysis and closing of joint venture partnerships and investments in the sector. Prior to joining Harrison Street, he was with Jones Lang LaSalle for 15 years where he was a senior leader for the firm focused on the data center asset class. As part of the Capital Markets team, he provided capital placement and structuring expertise to help user and investor clients develop optimal real estate finance solutions. Mr. Hochanadel focused on sale leasebacks, investment sales, build to suit transaction structuring and lease restructuring. Since 2005, he has been involved in the execution of over 49 million square feet of transactions valued in excess of $7 billion including industrial, office, data center, retail and life sciences real estate. As a market leader in the data center sector, Mr. Hochanadel has closed approximately $4.0 billion of transactions involving data centers and telecommunications assets. With a national focus, transactions have spanned all meaningful data center categories including turnkey colocation sites, powered shells, carrier hotels, enterprise facilities, telecommunications switch buildings, development projects and high-performance computing centers across 18 U.S. and European markets. Mr. Hochanadel received his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and graduated from Harvard University where he was a member of the baseball and football teams.