Data Creation and the Impact on High Performance Compute

Peter Berry is Senior Vice President of AOD (ACI on Demand) Infrastructure and Cyber Security for ACI Worldwide, running global data center operations for hosted and Software-as-a-Service payments products throughout the world. During his career, Berry has led data center and operations organizations through transformations, consolidations and acquisitions. He has driven improved availability, reduced costs and increased efficiency in both large established and smaller start-up organizations. Berry specializes in IT technical and operational leadership, supporting critical business functions and enabling rapid growth. Before joining ACI, Berry was Vice President of SaaS Strategy and Operations at NCR Corporation, providing leadership in support of rapidly growing SaaS offerings across the globe. Prior to that, Berry led data center and operations teams at VMWare/AirWatch and Liaison Technologies among other companies, and was an executive advisor for Tatum's technology practice.

Kevin McNicholas is the vice president of network infrastructure and design at Lucera, an industry-leading technology service provider delivering performant, secure and scalable solutions designed to power demanding financial applications. He is a versatile, top-tier commercially astute Information Technology executive with over 20 years of experience including, strategic planning, enterprise architecture, network design, technology delivery and project management, while providing executive leadership to the organization and optimizing capital and operational expenditure.

Lou Najdzin is a Senior IT Services veteran with a broad industry background ranging from leading Hosting & Network lines of business to leading product management organizations and launching new products. He currently leads a team responsible for Platform & go-to-market strategy activation. His team builds customer and product insight tools along with solution blueprints to assist enterprises with their digital transformation. Prior to joining Digital Realty, Lou spent 10 years at Equinix building tools to help drive Equinix from a product company to a platform company. Before joining Equinix, Lou was an Account Executive in Hewlett-Packard’s enterprise services business focused on Outsourcing opportunities with the largest institutions in the capital markets industry. Before HP, he led product management at Savvis – where he managed the team that launched their first cloud offering. Lou was a client partner at Telwares, Inc.; where he negotiated client vendor contracts for IT services. He also held various positions at AT&T and Lucent in professional services, product management, international operation, offer development and finance. Lou holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Rutgers University, an MBA in Finance from Seton Hall University, and recently earned an Executive Certificate in Strategy & Innovation from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Mark Hurley is a Data Center Solution Architect at Schneider Electric, responsible for bringing together the full suite of Schneider Electric products and services to provide right-sized, cost-effective, risk-based, innovative data center solutions for our customers. Mark has spent 30 years in the commercial real estate industry and has been involved in the MEP design, start-up, commissioning and operation of commercial office buildings and enterprise data centers. Prior to joining Schneider Electric, Mark was the SVP/Engineering Services Executive at a large financial institution, responsible for Engineering and Energy Services delivered to a 120 million square foot real estate portfolio.

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.