Rackspace has appointed its COO Taylor Rhodes to the role of president. He is replacing the hosting and cloud services company's previous president Lew Moorman, who announced in 2013 that he was planning to step down because of family members' health issues.

Rhodes joined Rackspace in 2007 and has served in a variety of positions within the company. Prior to his role as CCO, he served as senior VP and general manager of Rackspace International.

The company's CEO Lanham Napier said Rhodes was a proven operational veteran with outstanding strategic and leadership skills. “He has generated strong growth in all the businesses he has led.

“Our international business, for example, grew 30% a year under his leadership. His relationships with customers and his deep understanding of the market and where it’s headed will be invaluable as he steps into this new role.”

In his new role, Rhodes will be responsible for the company’s operations worldwide. As head of Rackspace International, he was responsible for developing the company's strategic priorities and creating business growth across international markets in Europe, Asia and Australia.

“I believe Rackspace is well-positioned for growth and I’m enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead,” said Mr. Rhodes. “As more and more companies adopt hybrid cloud computing and seek advice on how to get the best performance and cost-efficiencies, our Fanatical Support services will be more valuable than ever — especially as we broaden our technical expertise to enhance support of customers’ complex IT architectures and applications.”

Before joining Rackspace, Rhodes worked at EDS, managing end-to-end relationships with large global customers.