Sean James runs Microsoft’s datacenter research and development program within the Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure and Operations group. MCIO provides the foundational cloud infrastructure for over 1,000,000,000 Customers, 20,000,000 Businesses, 200+ Microsoft online services, in 90 Markets. Sean drives new datacenter technology for Microsoft’s next generation data centers including the evaluation, development, and testing. Sean joined Microsoft in 2006 to manage one of Microsoft’s datacenters. Later, he joined the construction team and oversaw the design and building of new Microsoft data centers. Prior to joining Microsoft, Sean worked in datacenter management overseeing the day-to-day maintenance and repair operations for both IT hardware and critical infrastructure, such as electrical infrastructure and cooling equipment. Prior to joining Microsoft, Sean served in the US Navy Submarine Fleet as an electrician. Sean holds many patents related to datacenters and energy, a computer science degree, and is a certified Project Management Professional from the Project Management Institute. He enjoys spending time with his family, guitar, and technology.

Sam is a Global Sustainability Manager in Oracle’s Global Sustainability Office. He began his career at Oracle managing supplier relationships and new market integration for Oracle’s Corporate Development team. His focus areas include renewable energy adoption, customer enablement, and non-financial reporting and transparency related to Oracle’s sustainable performance. He also is a Green Team lead, a grassroots program focused on driving environmental, and volunteering efforts with a local impact.

Raiford Smith leads teams with global responsibility for Google’s data center energy supply, market development, and supply planning analytics. Mr. Smith is based out of Google’s offices in Sunnyvale, CA. Before joining Google, Mr. Smith worked for 29 years with electric and gas utilities such as The Southern Company, Duke Energy, CPS Energy, and Entergy, holding various leadership roles in analytics, distribution, product development and management, energy trading, legal, mergers and acquisitions, and technology. A native of Savannah, Georgia, Mr. Smith earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the University of Georgia, a Masters of Business Administration degree from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, and a Juris Doctor from the Charlotte School of Law. Mr. Smith is a licensed attorney and member of the North Carolina Bar Association; holds seven patents on grid optimization and electric grid technologies; has published several papers on the future of the electric grid, energy efficiency, asset optimization, and price forecasting; and has served on several advisory and not-for-profit boards.

Karen Beachy was appointed Senior Vice President - Growth and Strategy effective Aug. 26, 2019, having previously served as Vice President - Growth and Strategy from 2018 to 2019, Vice President - Supply Chain from 2016 to 2018, and Director of Supply Chain from 2014 to 2016.

Born and raised in Westchester, NY, Adam Knobloch joined Bisnow as the 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 a network of active followers across numerous asset classes in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland. In his role, Adam leads Bisnow's event and media strategy for the Data Center sector, expanding its event offerings to 15 markets. Adam also previously sat on the Telecom Exchange (TEX) Advisory Board, collaborating on content, speaker recommendations and event strategy. In his past life, Adam was a musician having toured the east coast, and was a frequent member of the NYC folk/indie rock music scene as the drummer for The Gantry. Adam earned his Bachelor's Degree of Business Administration at American University's Kogod School of Business, with a focus on Marketing and Public Relations.