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Brian Schafer is a Principal of Highland Associates, a full-service Architectural, MEP Engineering and Commissioning firm focusing on mission critical facilities. The firm is celebrating 30 years in business and has been providing consulting, design and commissioning services for Fortune 500 Corporations, Financial Institutions, Wholesale Data Center and Co-Location service providers throughout our history. In his role as Principal he is responsible for key strategic accounts, client and project management as well as sales and marketing initiatives for the firm nationwide. He has been with Highland Associates since 2005 and has been in the mission critical industry for over 20 years.

In addition to his role at Highland, Brian has been a long time member of 7×24 Exchange International and more specifically, has served as the President of the Metro New York Chapter for nearly 15 years where he and several of the current Board Members revitalized the Chapter in 2003. The Metro New York Chapter is a very robust and active Chapter with a long history in the mission critical industry. The large financial service firms and the connection to Wall Street from the internet service providers, makes the Metro New York area a key market for the mission critical industry. The area has a very solid base of expertise in the industry and is home to many leading firms including the end users, consultants, contractors and equipment vendors that are involved on a global basis.

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Mr. Worn has been involved with industry-leading enterprises and clients around the world for over 25 years as an Industrial FMS and ICT Network and Facilities Engineer; with over eight years in Asia, across the Americas and again back on a pan-European level.

Mr. Worn was the Head of Technology Services for Dimension Data UK, where he was also their acting Practice Manager for Data Centres and Intelligent Buildings. Stephen has held senior management roles in Nortel Networks as their EMEA Senior Director of Datacentres, at Japan's Nippon Suisan International, China's National Center for Industry and Technology, as well as with the Center for Special Economic Zones.

Mr. Worn has supported DatacenterDynamics since its first conference as Chief Technical Advisor and Guest Conference Chairman. He is currently CEO of North America, Managing Director of AsiaPacific, as well as Global CTO for Data Center Dynamics. Mr. Worn holds two Masters Degrees. 

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Courtney joined Infrastructure Masons in 2022 as their EDU Program Manager.

As part of her role, she manages the existing iMasons scholarship program, awarding hundreds of scholarships worldwide and manage and supports iMasons existing Capstone program, supporting teams of students at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in year-long projects to introduce them to the digital infrastructure industry in the senior year of their bachelors degree.

She is managing and supporting iMasons emerging program to work with one or more major universities to develop and implement a multi-disciplinary minor-degree program in digital infrastructure and is a visible advocate for, and expert on, the data center industry’s workforce development needs.

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Cyre Mercedes Denny is a Global Program Director for the Cloud & Service Provider Segment of Schneider Electric. She works to translate strategy into actionable goals for performance and growth, helping to implement organization-wide programs, performance management, and annual operations planning that has yielded year over year business growth. Cyre leads a large global team of high-performing professionals collaborating with top executives in setting and driving organizational vision, operational strategy, and resource needs. She has over 15 years of experience working with Fortune 500 Companies, leveraging her unique background and strong leadership abilities to approach business needs from a creative point of view.

Cyre is passionate about education and diversity & inclusion. She was awarded the Schneider Electric Life is on Award for Excellence in Project Execution as well as Schneider’s Dare to Disrupt recognition for establishing the first cross state diversity and inclusion network in the DC, MD, & VA region uniting multiple offices and hundreds of employees to support numerous D&I causes. Cyre is a graduate of Syracuse University, as well as the McKenzie Leadership Program and Hispanics in Technology’s Emerging Executive Program. Cyre served on the board of the Women in Schneider Electric resource group and is currently working towards completing an executive leadership program with the INSEAD Business School while serving as the chair of the Infrastructure Masons LatinX Community and is an avid mentor for the Hispanic Information Technology Executive Council (HITEC) and schools across Virginia and the Bronx, NYC where she is originally from.

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Phillip Koblence is a strategic executive and thought leader in the data center and network space. He co-founded NYI (www.nyi.net) in 1996 and has grown the company from a single data center in Lower Manhattan to a robust network with executional capabilities in key national and international markets. His leadership, focus on customer experience, and ability to cut through complexity and hype, has positioned NYI as an industry leader in high-touch infrastructure and connectivity solutions.

As Co-Founder of the Nomad Futurist Foundation and related podcast, Phillip is committed to demystifying the world of critical infrastructure and empowering younger generations through exposure to the underlying technologies that power our digital world. He and Co-Founder Nabeel Mahmood are currently working to aggregate institutional knowledge of the industry and create educational initiatives for integration into existing STEAM curricula. As part of this mission, Nomad Futurist and Data Center Dynamics are partnering to cross-promote initiatives to help address the data center industry’s workforce challenges.

Phillip is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been profiled by Data Center Knowledge, TheWHIR, MSPMentor, and NJ BIZ. He serves on the DE-CIX North America Advisory Board and as Vice Chair of the OIX Board, and as an Advisor for Apolo, Ragu, and Cool Vector. Phillip also holds executive positions at Critical Ventures and United Integrity Advisors where he leverages his deep industry knowledge to assist companies with their digital infrastructure assets. Phillip is a Top 10 Data Center Influencer on LinkedIn and the recipient of numerous awards for industry leadership including the 2023 IM100 Infrastructure Masons Award, and the 2024 Good Scout Award. Phillip has an engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Santiago Suinaga, Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure Masons, is a senior multi-cultural executive in the digital infrastructure industry, with 20 years of international business experience in more than 10 countries across data center design, critical operations, M&A, sales, finance and cost management in high growth markets. He most recently served as CEO of KIO Networks Data Centers.

Santiago joined iMasons as a member in 2020, has served as an Advisory Council member, and is a founding member of the iMasons Climate Accord. He previously was Mexico’s local chapter leader and a member of the LatinX Member Resource Group.

Santiago holds a dual MBA degree from the IPADE Business School and the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley. Santiago has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Iberoamerican University.

Santiago’s Industry Certifications include Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) and Accredited Tier Specialist (ATS), C-Net Certified Data Centre Design Professional (CDCDP) and Certified Data Centre Management Professional (CDCMP).

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Dean has led $10B in infrastructure projects in 9 countries. His extensive architecture, engineering and operations experience includes 29 years in Hardware, 22 years in Network, 17 years in Infrastructure Software and 17 years in Data Centers. He has produced numerous award winning innovations in mission critical facilities and compute environments. He also holds four US patents.

Dean founded the non-profit professional association to bring infrastructure professionals together to connect, grow and give back. Their goal is to unite the builders of the digital age, one professional at a time.

Formerly the Head of Uber Compute, at Uber. His team was responsible for Metal as a Service (MaaS) technical infrastructure (data center, compute, storage, network and infrastructure software) and business functions serving Uber’s global leading ridesharing business, as well as UberEats, UberFreight, UberHealth, UberForBusiness, and Autonomous vehicle and UberAir development.

Prior to Uber, Dean worked at Ebay Inc for 6 ½ years as the Vice President of Global Foundation Services, which served over 300 million active users enabling over $250Bn of enabled commerce volume annually. At end of his tenure at ebay, his team successfully integrated, then split ebay and paypal infrastructures into two independent internet companies. Prior to ebay, Dean worked at Sun Microsystems for 17 years in various technical, management and executive leadership roles in Manufacturing, Engineering, IT and Real Estate. His final project was the consolidation of Sun’s multi-billion dollar global technical infrastructure portfolio of over 1,000 facilities.

Dean is creator of the Digital Service Efficiency methodology, the first miles per gallon measurement for technical infrastructure, used to measure ebay.com as a single system. He served as the Chair of theTechnology Business Management Council High Tech Workgroup, and Chairman & Founder of Data Center Pulse in 2009 – an exclusive datacenter owner community with over 9,000 members in 100 countries. In 2016, Dean founded Infrastructure Masons, an industry association where infrastructure professionals connect, grow and give back. Dean was identified by SearchDatacenter.com as one of the top five peoplewho changed the data center. Dean is also the recipient of Sun’s prestigious Innovation Award, Modular DC Deployment award and Best DC Design award from Uptime Institute as well as the Operational Excellence and Infrastructure Trailblazer awards from The TBM Council and Outstanding Contributions to the Data Center Industry award from Data Center Dynamics.

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Mark Jobson serves as SVP of Marketing for Prime. He brings 20+ years of marketing experience in data centers, colocation and cloud computing amongst other industries. He previously served as head of global marketing for cloud services provider Dizzion and Iron Mountain’s data center business unit. Prior to those roles, Mr. Jobson led CoreSite’s data center marketing team en route to a successful IPO (NYSE: COR).

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John Malone is Principal at AVAIO Capital, where he focuses on sustainable digital infrastructure and clean energy investments. John Malone has more than two decades of technical, financial and commercial experience in energy and infrastructure as an investor, advisor, analyst, banker, field scientist and consultant.

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Vlad-Gabriel Anghel is Director of Solutions Engineering at our sister training company, DCD>Academy. He is a tinkerer at heart and a problem solver by trade, with a deep passion for all things tech, especially computer networks and distributed systems.

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Mr. Worn has been involved with industry-leading enterprises and clients around the world for over 25 years as an Industrial FMS and ICT Network and Facilities Engineer; with over eight years in Asia, across the Americas and again back on a pan-European level.

Mr. Worn was the Head of Technology Services for Dimension Data UK, where he was also their acting Practice Manager for Data Centres and Intelligent Buildings. Stephen has held senior management roles in Nortel Networks as their EMEA Senior Director of Datacentres, at Japan's Nippon Suisan International, China's National Center for Industry and Technology, as well as with the Center for Special Economic Zones.

Mr. Worn has supported DatacenterDynamics since its first conference as Chief Technical Advisor and Guest Conference Chairman. He is currently CEO of North America, Managing Director of AsiaPacific, as well as Global CTO for Data Center Dynamics. Mr. Worn holds two Masters Degrees. 

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Jisoo Lee is a Managing Director at BNY overseeing Global Data Center Services, Enterprise Private Cloud, AI Infrastructure Engineering, Batch/Data Transfer Operations and Workspace Transformation Services.

He is responsible for leading the organization’s private cloud infrastructure investment, service delivery and operations while maintaining the highest uptime, performance and resiliency. He has more than 20 years of experience managing and engineering elegant solutions for diverse line of businesses at leading financial institutions.

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Jessica Bigelow is an Infrastructure Engineering Senior Advisor supporting Cigna’s Domestic Data Centers (delete) Portfolio. With a wealth of experience spanning construction, operations, and management, she plays a pivotal role in quality assurance for consistent best practices across the portfolio to maximize physical infrastructure uptime, and systems availability in support of critical business applications.

Jessica's journey in the Data Center industry began with prominent roles as Director of Engineering and Critical Operations for two Fortune 500 companies. Her extensive background encompasses a deep understanding of the intricate relationship between Facilities and IT teams. Her unique blend of maritime expertise and leadership in critical operations positions her as a sought-after figure in the world of Infrastructure Engineering. Whether overseeing operations, guiding construction projects, or educating future professionals, Jessica consistently brings a wealth of experience and dedication to her role as a leader in the Data Center domain.

Before venturing into the world of Data Centers, Jessica honed her skills in the challenging realm of the merchant marine. Holding a USCG Chief Engineer's license, she demonstrated leadership and technical expertise in marine engineering.

In addition to her corporate contributions, Jessica has shared her knowledge as an educator at SUNY Maritime and Mass Maritime, imparting valuable insights to the next generation of professionals entering the field. Her commitment to education extends to her own academic achievements, culminating in a Master's degree in Facilities Management.

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Kapil Wannere is a seasoned expert in IT infrastructure, cloud architecture, and network solutions, dedicated to designing and delivering innovative, scalable, and secure technologies that drive business success. With a strong foundation in SD-WAN, datacenter management, IT security, and cloud systems, Kapil specializes in creating cutting-edge solutions tailored to meet evolving organizational needs.

Whether streamlining enterprise IT operations, deploying advanced cloud solutions, or optimizing network security, Kapil is passionate about solving complex challenges with precision, creativity, and professionalism.

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Jimmy Peña is Senior Manager, DCIM at QTS Data Centers

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As founder and former president of MSE Power Systems, Mark led the company’s growth to more than 200 employees and $75 million in revenue before its sale in 2008. With more than 30 years of broad experience across the U.S. and in more than a dozen countries, Mark has completed over 300 T&D projects at voltages up to 765 kV. He was a pioneer in the wind industry, interconnecting more than 10 GW of wind power. Mark is a past member of the AWEA’s transmission committee and contributing author to the AWEA Grid Code. He holds a BS in Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a licensed professional engineer in eight U.S. states.

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Susanna Kass ranked 1st in the Top 10 Women in Data Centers in the U.S. and 4th in the Top 10 Women in Data Centers worldwide and is one of the Top 10 Data Center Influencers on LinkedIn. Susanna led over 3.8 gigawatts of clean energy data center projects across 18 countries for over 30 years as a global data center operation executive, a clean energy researcher, and an AI scientist. Susanna is an inventor holding patents and is featured in publications on Amazon Press as a Best-Selling Author and in WSJ, Forbes, Inc. CIO, TEDx, and Data Center magazines. She led new ventures to billions from the ground up in her role as COO at eBay International, General Manager of HP Asia Pacific Data Center Operation, VP of Global Data Center Business Operations at Sun Microsystems/Oracle, Head of Innovation and Development at NextEra Energy, EVP Sustainability and Development at Baselayer I/O with Fortune 500 clients: Goldman Sachs, Citi, BofA, Walmart, GE, hyperscale cloud content providers AWS, Google, Meta-Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Akamai, with numerous electric utilities.

Susanna is a Data Center Advisor to UNSDG-EP, an Energy Fellow at Stanford University, and a Board Member of Stanford University Graduate School of Business Women’s Circle, leading Impact Analysis Communication. Susanna is currently an Operating Partner at Digital Gravity Infra on sustainability infrastructure investments and a co-founder and Board Chair at InfraPrime℠, a Net Zero Switzerland startup funded by The European Union for Clean Energy Transition; her Net Zero designs and data center builds deliver net-positive results towards the transition to a carbon-free future, by using AI optimized digital infrastructure, green grids to scale the growth of accelerated computing to protect human safety, alleviate poverty, promote prosperity, and advance sustainability for head of states.

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Roland Ruprecht joined Teknor Apex in 2004, where he has held a variety of roles in operations, laboratory, product development, and technology management. His expertise in flame retardant technologies, consumer products, and weatherable polymer blends has led to several patent publications. As the global technical director, he currently oversees vinyl technology, chemicals technology, support services, and the Asia technology group.

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Miranda Gardiner is the Executive Director of the iMasons Climate Accord, a non-profit composed of 250+ member companies, representing more than $6T in market cap, and aligned on global carbon accounting of digital infrastructure. The organization is focused on influencing market-based decisions and driving the data center industry to ultimately achieve net zero carbon.

With over 16 years of experience, Miranda is a driven, professional manager with extensive industry experience in green buildings, energy and water efficiency, and sustainable master plans and policies. She is passionate about the environment and improving sustainability practices through local and global engagement, with a proven record of working for international sustainability organizations like the US Green Building Council and in 2020, was recognized by USGBC as a LEED Fellow.

Miranda is an enthusiastic author and public speaker who clearly communicates with peers, clients, and corporations to achieve individual and departmental goals. She thrives in implementing sustainable practices that result in significant cost savings, improved efficiency, and reduced environmental impact. Additionally, she is distance running coach and cycling instructor, who believes that caring for oneself resonates in caring for the planet; she has completed 8 marathons and 3 ultramarathons.

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Imran Latif is an engineering executive, presently, Chief Operations Officer at the US Dept of Energy Office of Science at Brookhaven National Lab where he leads the Infrastructure Operations of High Performance Computing Centers supporting the Global cutting-edge research collaborations on Physics, Life Sciences, Quantum, AI and HPC. Imran has over 20 years of leadership experience delivering large scale engineering, construction and sustainability projects.

Imran leads worldwide sustainability research with leading academia and tech companies. The research work is focused on solving the real-life energy issues in the mission critical facilities and developing the AI and ML based technologies to automate the sustainability processes. He is a subject matter expert in direct to chip and immersion cooling in data centers.

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Peter Worley is a licensed Mechanical Engineer and currently is Director, Development at CloudHQ. Peter has more than 10 years of experience in the design, construction and operations of hyperscale data centers.

Peter has held roles on the consultant, developer and owner sides (eg lead engineer, design manager, owner's mechanical SME, construction program manager, and development manager).

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Allison Boen has worked for 29 years in Data Center Design and Construction and is the Co-Founder and President of Alcatex Data Center Services. Allison, a certified DCEP with the Department of Energy, has had the unique opportunity to witness the industry expand and evolve.

As an Evangelist for Liquid Immersion Cooling Technology and as Brand Ambassador for Shell Corporation’s Single Phase Immersion Cooling Fluid, Allison’s focus is to help advocate for a more Sustainable Data Center Infrastructure utilizing less energy and less water. Allison also has supported since 2018 the Open Compute Project (OCP) and the Immersion Cooling Community as part of the Steering Group Committee and as a Workstream Lead.  

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John brings 15 years of management experience to the operations of Sabey’s data center portfolio – with no incidence of facility downtime. In addition to all day-to-day operations, start-ups and transitions, John is responsible for developing the conceptual bases of design and operations for data centers, managing client relationships, overseeing construction projects, and planning for electrical utility capacity.

John and his team have routinely received recognition for continuous uptime from the Uptime Institute. Prior to joining Sabey, he worked for Capital One and for Walt Disney Company and spent seven years with the Navy Civil Engineer Corps. John is also President and founding member of the Western Washington State Chapter of AFCOM, a leading international data center operations industry group.

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Danielle Rossi is the Global Director, Data Centers at Trane Technologies. She has 19+ years in data center solution design and engineering for hyperscale, colocation, enterprise, edge, and government environments. In her current role, Danielle manages global mission critical cooling products and processes to provide a standardized deliverable for customers executing projects worldwide.

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Dan Loosemore is currently CEO at Data Center Dynamics (DCD); helping empower individuals who plan, build, design and operate digital infrastructure to make informed decisions faster. DCD attracts over 15 million views to its publishing sites every year, making it the most read data center publication in the world. It's L&D business trains over 3000 engineers every year and the DCD event series attracts over 20,000 annual attendees. Since 2022, DCD has been part of the InfraXMedia portfolio and is a proud sister-business of Yotta.

Dan has spent 15+ years scaling B2B media, event and subscription-based platforms in technology and software driven industries. He is passionate about the future of B2B technology marketing and sales, supporting the industry's leading solutions providers on their GTM strategies.

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Roger England received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Florida State University, a MS in Metallurgical Engineering from University of Cincinnati and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. He has hands-on experience in several types of auto racing and brings that intensity to his daily activities.

Roger is a certified Six Sigma Black belt with over $10M US in annualized savings and holds thirteen US patents. He has served as an Associate Professor for both Purdue University and Ivy State Technical College.

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Charlotte is the Compute, Storage, and Networking Editor at DCD. Previously, she was a senior writer at IDG, writing for Computerworld, CIO, and NetworkWorld.

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Michael Roark is the Founder & CEO of iM Data Centers.

iM Data Centers creates data centers with end-to-end services and investment solutions, including iM’s factory-built, modular facilities.

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Jesline Leston is passionate about infrastructure programs in the data center space by leading the execution and delivery in data center construction program management. Jesline leads the construction operations process focusing on quality for major hyperscale clients.

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Dr. Atif Ansar is a global megaprojects expert. Atif is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Foresight, which provides Fortune 500 companies with AI technology to accelerate the delivery of big projects such as data centers, rail or power generation assets, large property or industrial developments.

Atif is the Founding Director of the Oxford’s Programme on Sustainable Megaprojects. He is a Senior Fellow on the MSc in Major Programme Management and the Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA) for the UK and Australian governments at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Atif's work is on the confluence of megaprojects, human psychology, and technology. In particular, he is interested in how big capital projects can increase their speed to market and total lifetime value by combining human expertise with technologies such as big data and Artificial Intelligence. Atif’s research on megaprojects is globally influential and several of his papers are among the most cited classics in the field of project management. His work features regularly in the media including in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, among others.

Atif has been recognised with a Fellowship by Special Election of Keble College at the University of Oxford, a Visiting Professorship at Tsinghua University (China’s top-ranked university) a Visiting appointment at Stanford University’s Global Projects Center, and external partner-level advisor role at McKinsey & Company.

Atif completed his DPhil (PhD) in 2010. Studying at Brasenose College, Oxford University, he received the prestigious Clarendon Award from the Oxford University Press for his doctorate. He undertook his bachelor’s degree at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he majored in philosophy, politics, and economics.

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Pieter Schaap is Soben’s Group Development Director. In his role, he is responsible for all workstreams associated with data centre project development, from pre-construction and construction to commissioning and operations. Working with a select group of influential global DC developers and operators, Pieter has been involved in some of today's most impactful data centre schemes around the globe.

Besides his data centre responsibilities, Pieter is a global sustainability leader, and at Soben, the subject matter specialist for all decarbonisation initiatives. His team is focused on creating meaningful partnerships with clients around the globe, driving innovation in project and cost management, design, construction and operations. Making sustainability affordable is always at the top of Pieter’s priorities and with a direct reporting line to the CEO, Pieter has helped Soben become a market leader in the data centre consultancy space.

Prior to Soben, Pieter was Supply Chain Director at Yondr Group, his first experience in the data centre industry after he worked in the oil & gas sector for over a decade, including various international postings.

Today, Soben works with some of the world’s leading organisations who work on high value and complex projects across six continents.

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Jennifer is a sustainability leader within the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Data Center Engineering team and is leading energy and sustainability for data center services. She is working towards Oracle's goals to be 100% renewable by 2025 and embed sustainability within one of the world's fastest growing public clouds.

Prior to joining Oracle, Jennifer led Equinix's global Sustainability Program Office located within Investor Relations, helping them the EPA Green Power Partner of the year in 2020 as well as one of the largest corporate renewable energy buyers worldwide. In 2020, Jennifer also led the creation of Equinix's Green Finance Framework enabling the issuance of $3.7B in green bonds to finance their investments in green buildings, renewable energy, and energy and water efficiency. She also led their science-based targets and supported their leadership in the EU towards the formation of the EU Climate-Neutral Data Centre Operator Pact.

She holds a master’s degree in Decision Analysis from Johns Hopkins University and an undergraduate degree in Chemistry.

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Data center journalist, Editor-in-Chief, and Publisher at the world's largest digital infrastructure publication, DCD.

Send tips to [email protected]

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Ramiro is the AVP of Technical Space Operations for AT&T's Data Center Operations and responsible for all data centers infrastructure operations across the globe. He was previously responsible for all AT&T Central Office Operations in AL, GA, SC, and NC and holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from University of Miami.

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Mike Kramer is the Vice President of Data Economy Strategy at Constellation.

Mike is a results-oriented finance leader with a strategic perspective, strong analytical skills, and extensive technical finance and accounting background. Mike Kramer is an experienced business partner, able to collaborate with all levels of an organization to drive improved financial performance and optimize investment decisions

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Mara Ervin is the owner of Mara Jade Consulting, and has served in several leadership roles in her 20+ years in mission critical. She has developed an expansive network ranging from data center builders, operators, manufactures, AE Firms, consultants, general contractors, integrators, and SMEs.

Mara is known for providing invaluable insights into the mission-critical industry with an unparalleled customer-centric approach and attraction to relentlessly solving problems. In an era marked by rapid market evolution, Mara champions agility as a benefit to all stakeholders. She serves as a trusted representative for data center operators, guiding them through the selection process for space, power, containment, and connectivity hyper focused on speed, execution, and efficiency.

Mara is known for upholding her core values including trust, authenticity, and transparent communication. Recognizing that building and managing data centers is inherently human centric, she collaborates closely with her expansive partner network to cultivate an ecosystem that embodies these values.

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Charlotte Lamping serves as Practice Manager, Business Sector at Henderson Engineers after spending most of her career in boots-on-the-ground management roles on data center, power transmission, and industrial projects across the country.

Charlotte received her bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Kansas and her master’s in business administration from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business. She is dedicated to working with the project team to deliver the highest standard of MEP design consulting services and achieve successful completion on each and every one of her projects.

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Professionally, Sarah serves as the Director of Sales for Tidal Time Solutions. She engages and collaborates with construction and operations professionals, technology teams, and stakeholders in the data center industry. Sarah was introduced to data center development in 2017 while working with an IoT technology start-up in construction, specializing in workforce data and visibility. She not only developed a passion for growing start-ups, but for disruptive data and technology that specifically drives business optimization, scalability, and operational efficiency for the companies that utilize it. Sarah earned her undergraduate degree from Penn State University and prior to joining TTS has built her 20 year career in business development, account management and technology consulting across the construction, design, and manufacturing industries specializing in new market development. She attributes her success and strong industry network to building relationships mindfully, straight forward communication, empathy, and emotional intelligence.

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Joined Pacifico Energy with over decade of experience in the energy industry, having worked on development and construction of more than 1GW of solar, energy storage, and traditional generation assets. He has worked on behalf of investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, mission critical facilities, public and private universities, agricultural facilities, and the military. Previously with Ziegler Caterpillar, Eric led the Hybrid Energy Division of the Power Systems group, where he was responsible for the development, execution, and overall market strategy of energy generation offerings. Key projects include 300MW of backup energy assets for a Meta / Facebook data center and several natural gas prime power generation deployments for municipal utility generation fleets. Eric holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

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Stefan has over 20 years of international sales, marketing, and business development experience working in the IT-industry for a variety of leading vendors. Prior to joining Conapto, Stefan has worked for companies like Ingram Micro, D-Link and more recently Juniper Networks in various capacities in both marketing and business development.

Currently serving as the Chief Commercial Officer at Conapto, a Swedish provider of secure, flexible and sustainable data center colocation. Stefan is passionate about delivering great customer experience with focus on developing and executing the go-to-market strategy as well as the ecosystem of partners for the company.

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Phill Lawson-Shanks has more than 25 years of experience identifying new opportunities for further growth of leading data center infrastructure, network architecture, and cloud solutions in the U.S. and abroad. As Chief Innovation Officer at Aligned, Phill is responsible for the management of revenue generation and profitability objectives, as well as championing key innovation, technology, and sustainability strategies aimed at maximizing new business development.

Prior to joining Aligned, Phill served as Chief Innovation Officer at EdgeConneX, where he was instrumental in driving strategies focused on creating the next generation of network edge-based data centers for the digital content ecosystem. Throughout his career, Phill has also served in numerous senior executive-level positions at Virtacore, Alcatel-Lucent, Savvis (now CenturyLink Technology Solutions), and MCI (now Verizon Digital Media Services). He currently holds eight active technology patents and serves on the Board of Directors for Netrality Data Centers as well as the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA) Advisory Board.

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As Solutions Architect for Cloud-Scale Data Centers at CommScope, Ken is responsible for fiber optic market development, technology and thought leadership, as well as high speed migration planning for enterprise and related data centers. Ken has been with CommScope and other acquired companies for 35 years in global program and project management, technical sales, marketing and industry standards. He has 9 patents to date for fiber optic connectors and infrastructure management solutions.

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Dave Meadows is the Director of Technology at STULZ USA. He has over 20 years of experience in mission critical technologies and participates in numerous committees and panels throughout the year. Dave has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is also a graduate of the United States Navy Nuclear Power School. Dave is a voting member on these ASHRAE committees: 1. ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9: “Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment”. 2. ASHRAE SSPC 90.4: “Energy Standard for Data Centers”. 3. ASHRAE SPC 127: “Method of Testing for Rating Computer and Data Processing Room Unitary Air Conditioners”.

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Andrew Lindsey is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flexnode, a digital infrastructure company delivering the next generation of distributed, high-performance data center solutions for ‘go-anywhere’ capacity. At Flexnode, Andrew is collaborating with industry leading colleagues and best-in-class strategic partners to design and operate modular, liquid-cooled, micro data centers to meet rapidly growing global data demand at the network core and edge.

In addition to his executive role at Flexnode, Andrew also serves as the Director of Applied Research and Development at Alpha Corporation, a multidisciplinary design and construction consulting firm headquartered in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. While working with Alpha, Andrew has supported the development and implementation of innovative solutions to critical building and infrastructure problems in domestic and international markets with an emphasis on sustainability and resilience in the built environment.

Throughout his career, Andrew has collaborated with a broad cross section of industry leaders in an effort to support long-term solutions to a range of challenges in media, healthcare, education and most recently the built environment. To support these efforts, Andrew has emphasized integrating solutions across markets by connecting communities and using technology as a conduit and translator.

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Tarif is a veteran of over two decades in the data center space, with extensive experience in the design, development, construction, commissioning, deployment, maintenance and operation of data centers.

Prior to joining Flexnode, he was VP of Data Center Infrastructure at NTT Ltd. (Americas), where he deployed ground-breaking technologies in data centers to improve efficiencies and reduce carbon footprints, including the first use of solid oxide fuel cells running on biogas from cow manure to produce electricity at a data center, and the implementation of virtualized cooling, a project that won the Uptime Institute Green Enterprise IT award. Having built a solid core, he now gets his kicks living on the edge.

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Dagi provides architecture/design, engineering and construction leadership / expertise to internal and external resources for the delivery of IT capacity for greenfield, brownfield, retrofit and lease delivery projects globally.

His deliverables include data center site selection, managing efforts of land technical due diligence, engineering/designing/constructing the building shell/core, power, cooling, telecom, and controls infrastructure, environmental and building permitting all to align with Salesforce’s IT capacity roadmap for critical infrastructure builds, M&A, migration, optimization, decommissioning and leases.

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John Lee is an innovative technology executive focused on operational excellence through driving change. Combining a proven track record for providing outstanding results and building teams with diverse skills to deliver the highest-level of customer service. Core abilities regarding analysis and optimization. Passionate about continuous learning.

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Tony Rossabi is Founder and Managing Member of OCOLO, a unique and innovative marketplace for data centers. Tony is the former CEO and a Board Member of Recovery Point Systems (RPS), a provider of data center and recovery services. Tony is an Independent director for Connectbase, Vantage Data Centers, 1623 Farnam, and Contract Leasing Corporation.

With more than 25 years of experience driving growth and innovation for technology and telecommunications enterprises, Tony has guided several companies to successful turnarounds and exits.

Prior to RPS, Tony worked for TierPoint as Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, where he was responsible for overseeing revenue growth, managing the daily operations of TierPoint’s national sales organization, and devising the company’s strategic plan. He was part of the 3-person executive team that raised $325 million to drive the company’s growth.

Prior to TierPoint, Tony served as Managing Director for Digital Realty Trust’s colocation and connectivity business unit, and earlier was Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Strategy for Telx Group, Inc. (acquired by DRT). In 2015, Tony was part of the executive team that sold the business to Digital Realty Trust for $1.98 billion, realizing a 43% IRR.

Tony supports several organizations as a member of non-profit Boards, including the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) and the Board of Surgeons Overseas.

Past Corporate Board roles: PCTEL formerly listed on NASDAQ (acquired in December 2023), National Express Wash, and Qarbon Technology.

Tony holds BA, MBA, and Juris Doctor (JD) degrees.

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George started his first technology publication in 1998, focused on the 'plumbing' of the Internet and has been building and connecting digital infrastructure communities all over the world,

George is fascinated by the sheer scale of the digital infrastructure that is yet to be built, one that will support AI and a new world of accelerated computing; it is 'mission critical' to the future of every industry and every person on the planet and must be done sustainably.

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Ryan Wangner is an experienced Product Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the data center, telecom, IT and services industries. Ryan is currently the Vice President, Product Management at NTT Global Data Centers.

Ryan Wangner has 16+ years of experience, and is skilled in Interconnection & Data Center/Colocation Services, Project Management as well as IT Management and Strategy. Ryan also has experience with business and systems integration and data analysis.

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Refugio Fernandez is an experienced Commodity Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the internet industry. Refugio is skilled in Spend Analysis, Demand Planning, Pricing Strategy, and Strategic Sourcing. He has strong purchasing professional with a MBA focused in Supply Chain Management from Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School of Business.

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Chuck has 25+ years of experience and has had an all-data center career experience. Starting out in operations and project management roles before moving into leadership. Chuck has managed construction and engineering including green field builds and retrofits in existing live production data center environments.

For Centra, Chuck is focused on fostering the can-do attitude of the team. Having a team that understands the industry and is willing to do whatever it takes to build a successful company to serve our customers.

Chuck enjoys all the outdoor activities Colorado has to offer including hiking, skiing and golf.

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Based in the Southwestern US, Soben Director and Pre-Construction Lead, Sophie Smith specializes in data center preconstruction and post contract cost management. Sophie has worked on some of the largest data center projects and programs in the US and world.

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With over 20 years of work experience in the construction industry, Fuquan Collins is a passionate and dedicated leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion. As the Chief Diversity Officer at Turner Construction, Fuquan oversees the development and implementation of policies, programs, and initiatives that foster a culture of respect, belonging, and empowerment for all employees, clients, and partners. Fuquan Collins also has extensive skills in project planning, construction safety, and value engineering to support the company's strategic goals and operational excellence.

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Phillip Koblence is a strategic executive and thought leader in the data center and network space. He co-founded NYI (www.nyi.net) in 1996 and has grown the company from a single data center in Lower Manhattan to a robust network with executional capabilities in key national and international markets. His leadership, focus on customer experience, and ability to cut through complexity and hype, has positioned NYI as an industry leader in high-touch infrastructure and connectivity solutions.

As Co-Founder of the Nomad Futurist Foundation and related podcast, Phillip is committed to demystifying the world of critical infrastructure and empowering younger generations through exposure to the underlying technologies that power our digital world. He and Co-Founder Nabeel Mahmood are currently working to aggregate institutional knowledge of the industry and create educational initiatives for integration into existing STEAM curricula. As part of this mission, Nomad Futurist and Data Center Dynamics are partnering to cross-promote initiatives to help address the data center industry’s workforce challenges.

Phillip is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been profiled by Data Center Knowledge, TheWHIR, MSPMentor, and NJ BIZ. He serves on the DE-CIX North America Advisory Board and as Vice Chair of the OIX Board, and as an Advisor for Apolo, Ragu, and Cool Vector. Phillip also holds executive positions at Critical Ventures and United Integrity Advisors where he leverages his deep industry knowledge to assist companies with their digital infrastructure assets. Phillip is a Top 10 Data Center Influencer on LinkedIn and the recipient of numerous awards for industry leadership including the 2023 IM100 Infrastructure Masons Award, and the 2024 Good Scout Award. Phillip has an engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Arthur Valhuerdi is the Chief Technology Officer at Hudson Interxchange and has over 25 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, and Vice President of Operations at Datagryd Data Centers.

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.

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As Partner and General Manager, Felix Seda is responsible for managing and overseeing the day-to-day operations of NJFX.

Mr. Seda manages the company’s budgetary outlook and ensures proper protocols & procedures are implemented and followed. In addition, Mr. Seda is responsible for overseeing the growth of the NJFX ecosystem and works closely with clients to meet their goals and strategic initiatives.

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Mr. Worn has been involved with industry-leading enterprises and clients around the world for over 25 years as an Industrial FMS and ICT Network and Facilities Engineer; with over eight years in Asia, across the Americas and again back on a pan-European level.

Mr. Worn was the Head of Technology Services for Dimension Data UK, where he was also their acting Practice Manager for Data Centres and Intelligent Buildings. Stephen has held senior management roles in Nortel Networks as their EMEA Senior Director of Datacentres, at Japan's Nippon Suisan International, China's National Center for Industry and Technology, as well as with the Center for Special Economic Zones.

Mr. Worn has supported DatacenterDynamics since its first conference as Chief Technical Advisor and Guest Conference Chairman. He is currently CEO of North America, Managing Director of AsiaPacific, as well as Global CTO for Data Center Dynamics. Mr. Worn holds two Masters Degrees. 

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Jeff leads DC BLOX where he is responsible for setting and leading the company’s strategy, vision and execution in designing, building, and operating a fabric of interconnected, highly secure, Tier III rated data centers across the Southeast. DC BLOX currently owns and operates data centers in five Southeast markets of which all have become the defacto Connectivity Exchanges within their respective market for agile, efficient, resilient cloud connectivity and best-in-class infrastructure for digital services.

Jeff is a 30 year veteran in the information technology industry, is a tireless tech-savvy executive and business strategist having held C-suite leadership roles for Liquid Web, Cbeyond, Bandwidth, ACSI Network Technologies, MCI and WilTel.

Jeff serves as an active board member in several technology firms, he is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, Rice University’s Jones School of Business Executive Education program in Finance and Accounting and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. Jeff lives in Alpharetta, GA with his wife Aimee of 22 years which they have two daughters. When not working, he can be typically found road cycling, playing golf or on a lacrosse field with his youngest daughter.

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Data center journalist, Editor-in-Chief, and Publisher at the world's largest digital infrastructure publication, DCD.

Send tips to [email protected]

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Santiago Suinaga, Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure Masons, is a senior multi-cultural executive in the digital infrastructure industry, with 20 years of international business experience in more than 10 countries across data center design, critical operations, M&A, sales, finance and cost management in high growth markets. He most recently served as CEO of KIO Networks Data Centers.

Santiago joined iMasons as a member in 2020, has served as an Advisory Council member, and is a founding member of the iMasons Climate Accord. He previously was Mexico’s local chapter leader and a member of the LatinX Member Resource Group.

Santiago holds a dual MBA degree from the IPADE Business School and the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley. Santiago has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Iberoamerican University.

Santiago’s Industry Certifications include Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) and Accredited Tier Specialist (ATS), C-Net Certified Data Centre Design Professional (CDCDP) and Certified Data Centre Management Professional (CDCMP).

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Carly Heissenbuttel is an 18 Year Energy Executive born and raised in New Jersey. Carly formally operated a boutique international consulting firm specializing in industrial manufacturing and electrical energy related technologies and deployment.

In Carly’s work, she engages with Universities, Fortune 500 companies, and Government stakeholders bringing together her knowledge and experience in the field to create lasting projects that benefit all the stakeholder community. Carly’s mission is to commercialize these technologies in the USA and create an innovative ecosystem of safe clean resilient energy that can be scaled globally.

She is a proud resident of Morristown New Jersey where she lives with her two school aged children and their dog. They enjoy hiking and biking on the trails in Morris County and are proud to call NJ home.

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Brad has executed over $2.5 billion in mission critical data center projects in the US and Mexico. More recently, he delivered multiple hyperscale, wholesale, and collocation data centers totaling over 150 megawatts for large REITs, social media clients and financial institutions.  Brad has held leadership roles in an ENR top 5 General Contractor working within Lump Sum, Design-Build, Design-Bid-Build, and Integrated Project Delivery contracts. He received a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Brigham Young University. He enjoys building the right teams and executing technical projects.

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Dean Perrine is the Executive Vice President of JSA.

JSA is a provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services to the telecom, data center, and tech industries. JSA was awarded ‘Most Outstanding Telecoms PR Agency’ by LiveWire for two years in a row.

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Kevin Dalton is an Advisor for I Squared Capital, a new U.S. Data Center Platform.

Kevin Dalton served as Chief Data Center Officer for Cumulus Data, a division of Talen Energy Corporation. In this role, he led the design and construction of data centers and supported technical customer sales efforts. This led him to having over 30 years of experience developing 1,000 MW of data center capacity ($10B CapEx) across over 75 data centers globally.

Prior to joining Cumulus Data, Mr. Dalton served as Senior Vice President of Design & Construction for NTT Global Data Centers, responsible for leading the team that designs and delivers world-class data centers. Before his tenure with NTT Global Data Centers, he spent 12 years at Digital Realty in technical and senior management roles, including seven years as Vice President of Engineering, leading teams of engineers to deliver data center solutions for customers around the world. Mr. Dalton previously spent 10 years at MGE UPS Systems, a world leader in uninterrupted power supply systems, and nine years at McClier Corporation, a design-build firm.

Mr. Dalton earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

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Gary Watson is the Country Manager and Director of Keppel DC REIT in Ireland, and has the strategic, financial, commercial, and operational responsibility for the data centre portfolio in this key European market. Gary has over 30 years of global experience in the telecoms, data centre, managed services, and cloud sector, and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this role, as well as a strong network of connections and partnerships.

Gary joined Keppel DC REIT in 2016, after holding senior management and board positions in Telecity and Sungard Availability Services, where he led and managed large-scale data centre operations and integration projects, and drove the growth and strategic direction of the Irish business and the European consulting team. Gary is passionate about his team, delivering high-quality and customer-centric services, and leveraging the latest technologies and innovations to enhance the performance and sustainability of the data centre industry. Gary holds an MSC in Facilities and Workplace Management from Portobello Institute.

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Charlotte is the Compute, Storage, and Networking Editor at DCD. Previously, she was a senior writer at IDG, writing for Computerworld, CIO, and NetworkWorld.

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John Coster is an experienced leader in engineering, construction and operations of digital facilities, and the advanced technologies that that optimize operational and financial performance. John has over 30 years’ forming and leading global teams developing investment-grade Real Estate and IT projects, and products and services in companies ranging from start-ups to >$200Bn.

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Doug is the Founder & President of EdgePresence. Doug is a renowned telecommunications industry veteran with over 25 years of proven experience successfully delivering multi-access edge data center and colocation services. Prior to founding EdgePresence in 2017, Doug founded Colo5 Data Centers LLC; later acquired by Cologix, Inc in 2014. Throughout his career, he has achieved several accolades, including Northeast Florida's Ultimate CEO Award by the Jacksonville Business Journal, and as owner of one of Florida's fastest-growing companies and one of the 500 fastest-growing companies nationwide, was listed in Jacksonville's Business Journals Top 40 under 40 for 2010. Doug is also a widely recognized thought leader, speaking at key industry events such as PTC and other national IT and business events. Doug's professionalism, passion and robust industry experience has positioned EdgePresence as a leading contender in the edge data center market.

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Skyler holds a Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University and Bachelors in Science from Arizona State. In his free time, Skyler enjoys racing in triathlons, trail running, and international travel.

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Joseph Rubino is a seasoned real estate professional with a diverse background in private equity real estate and commercial real estate analysis. Currently serving as the Vice President of Real Estate at TECfusions in Tampa, Florida, he brings over six years of experience to his role. Prior to joining TECfusions, Joseph spent six years at CenterSquare Investment Management in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, where he held various positions, including Private Equity Real Estate Associate and Senior Analyst. His expertise lies in value-add and core-plus real estate acquisitions, joint venture equity, direct investments, and structured transactions. With a strong foundation in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and real estate private equity, Joseph has honed his skills in analyzing commercial real estate markets and identifying investment opportunities.

Before his tenure at CenterSquare Investment Management, Joseph gained valuable experience as a Commercial Real Estate Analyst at Carey, Kramer, Pettit, Panichelli & Assoc., Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania. In this role, he contributed to originating significant commercial debt and asset management of a substantial loan portfolio, representing prominent clients including REITs, real estate funds, and large institutional developers. Joseph’s multifaceted career trajectory reflects his ability to excel in dynamic and challenging environments within the real estate industry, showcasing his proficiency in capital markets, commercial real estate analysis, and strategic decision-making.

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Matt Welch is the Content & Project Manager - Live Events, at Datacenter Dynamics.

Prior to joining DCD, Matt produced international events across various industry sectors which included cybersecurity, IoT, renewable energy, global commodities, and sports betting.

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Rick Galietta is Director, Office of the CTO - Enterprise Strategy and Platform Enablement. Rick's role includes accelerating collaboration, innovation, and growth for leading enterprises and service providers on the world’s largest data center platform.

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Marcus is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of industry experience spanning management, engineering, construction, commissioning, and operations with a focus on data centers and advanced technology sectors.

He is a recognized data center industry Thought Leader with an ardent understanding of the nature of the critical environment and its reliance on the design, construction and commissioning of its technology and facility infrastructure systems and the proper training and readiness of its operations staff to successfully deliver on its fundamental business mission.

Marcus has authored trade articles and served as an event speaker / panelist on design, energy efficiency, sustainability, and operational best practices in the mission critical environment. He is an Uptime Institute Network Member Principal, Contributor to the Data Center Dynamics Management and Operations Channel, and Board Member of the Carolinas Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange, serving as the organization's Thought Leadership Committee Chairman.

Marcus was appointed in 2021 as Chair of the ASHRAE SSPC 90.4 Energy Standard for Data Centers Committee. He is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and joined Truist in 2021 as Mission Critical Operations Group Manager.

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Vicki Worden serves as President and CEO of the Green Building Initiative (GBI), an international nonprofit dedicated to reducing climate impacts by improving the built environment. During her tenure, GBI has become a thriving community that supports the integration of sustainability and net zero, health and wellness, and resilience objectives throughout some of the largest real estate portfolios in the world. In 2022, Worden's leadership saw GBI reach the milestone of having certified more than half a billion square feet of commercial building space under its internationally recognized Green Globes building certification program and federal Guiding Principles Compliance program. Worden has dedicated her career to advancing environmental initiatives across North America.

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My passion is enabling sustainable construction and energy solutions through hyperscale designs that drive industry-wide decarbonization. My role as an Advisory Board Member for Fidelis New Energy leverages my expertise sustainable design enabling multi-gigawatt, zero carbon power projects in Europe and the US. This aligns with my commitment to sustainability and ethical practices on a global scale.

Previously, as a Senior Engineering Lead at Meta, I spearheaded initiatives to enhance capital efficiency in data center design and construction, linking sustainability directly to delivery. Our team's collaborative efforts in the iMasons Climate Accord and the development of AI strategies contributed significantly to reducing carbon in concrete by 40%. Underscoring proficiency in manufacturing process improvement and project planning, and dedication to safe, efficient, and respectful environments.

At Microsoft, I led design, procurement and construction delivery for MS's Global Cloud DC infrastructure. Scaling delivery capacity from 100's of MWs/year to 1GW+ MWs/year. Redesigning the DC design and delivery approach, reducing cost and schedule by 50% while improving safety in the field by 75%

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Jon Pettitt is a highly experienced, successful and well-regarded business leader within the data center Industry. Jon has over 15 years of extensive knowledge of HVAC projects for data centers and critical facilities. His background includes 11 years as Vice President of data center for EMEA & APAC for Munters and 14 years at York International and Johnson Controls.

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Marco Zaghi drives GemaTEG’s commercial strategy in EMEA, managing business opportunities and fostering client relationships. With a background in Chip Design and Business Administration and VC, he bridges technology and business, ensuring alignment between customer needs and product development.

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Liam has worked in technical sales management roles for Grundfos for over thirty years, gaining experience and expertise in technical pumping solutions coupled with a thorough understanding of customers’ needs and pain points. He supports Grundfos’s data center customers in developing sustainable pumping solutions, matching Grundfos innovation and technical solutions with their customers' needs.

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Dave Meadows is the Director of Technology at STULZ USA. He has over 20 years of experience in mission critical technologies and participates in numerous committees and panels throughout the year. Dave has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is also a graduate of the United States Navy Nuclear Power School. Dave is a voting member on these ASHRAE committees: 1. ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9: “Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment”. 2. ASHRAE SSPC 90.4: “Energy Standard for Data Centers”. 3. ASHRAE SPC 127: “Method of Testing for Rating Computer and Data Processing Room Unitary Air Conditioners”.

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As a results-oriented Business Leader and Team Builder with over 12 years of experience in data center and commercial project deployments, Brian has a strong background to deliver complex infrastructure and is passionate for advancing liquid cooling technologies to enhance data center efficiencies and performance.

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Doug is the NYC metro area Territory Sales Manager for Starline Holdings and brings more than 2 decades of field sales experience working within the data center and IT arena, with well established relationships among high visibility companies within the tri-state market.   He has spent the last 26 years of his career working closely with leading manufacturer’s and their local representation, whom specializing in critical applications of precision cooling, UPS, and large power distribution products from floor-mount PDU’s down through IT “point-of-use” requirements.  Complimenting this, is a well-established exposure to an array of associated power management tools and DCIM solutions that encompass his product portfolio background.

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Peter Panfil is the Vice President of Global Power at Vertiv. He leads strategic customer development for the Power business and works to apply the latest power and control technology to proven and emerging topologies to provide the availability, scalability and efficiency levels customers demand. A thirty year data center veteran, he has held executive positions including VP Engineering and VP/GM AC Power prior to his current responsibilities. He is a frequent presenter and spokesperson for industry trade shows, conferences and media outlets serving the IT, facilities and engineering industry.

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Robert Murphy is the CEO of Othersphere. Robert works to scale novel and impactful solutions to some of the hardest global problems, where cohesive technological, commercial, and socioeconomic innovations are essential.

Robert is heavily focused on climate change and energy access; building out ideas, advising organizations, and investing in new teams and technologies.

His goal is to have a meaningful impact by bringing to bear hard-learned lessons and decades of experience with strategic planning, business development, product development, public policy, financial/data analytics, and team building.

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Brice Nzeukou is the Head of Business Development at Radiant, and has a technical background in engineering, product and marketing skills, which enable him to analyze problems from multiple perspectives, identify market opportunities, and communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders. Brice has successfully led the new product introduction process for several product lines, gathering voices from key customers, conducting market analysis, and developing go-to-market strategies. Brice is eager to learn, grow, and affect change in the data center's increasingly global community.

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Craig Wirtz is an Electrical Engineer with over 30 years of experience designing and selling power systems for electric utilities, telecommunications, and data centers. As the Director of Sales – Data Center at EnerSys®, he leads a team dedicated to challenging conventional thinking in the industry, advocating for advanced lead-acid battery technology to drive efficiency and reliability.Craig thrives on engaging customers with insights that reframe their power system strategies, helping them navigate complex challenges and optimize their energy solutions. His expertise lies in solving problems and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in data center power resilience.

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Erica Mack serves as Team Lead for Partnerships & Business Development at Paces, where she specializes in accelerating mission-critical infrastructure deployment for data center operators. With four years of strategic account management expertise, Erica collaborates with enterprise clients to implement Paces' automated site selection and de-risking solutions, dramatically reducing development timelines and boosting project ROI. Her consultative approach helps data center developers overcome power access bottlenecks and secure optimal locations with behind-the-meter and grid-tied energy strategies, enabling faster time-to-market in today's competitive landscape.

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Joergen Madsen, Director of Business Development for ABB Power Protection, has more than 30 years’ experience in the mission-critical industry. Prior to joining ABB, he led several service and marketing management positions with leading UPS manufacturers in Europe and the US.  Joergen graduated from the University of Southern Denmark with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a diploma in Marketing.

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Jonathan Gould is the Director of Business Development, Software for Schneider Electric with a focus on growing digital solutions across the broad spectrum of Schneider Electric portfolio.  Jonathan has over 20 years of experience in software and joined Schneider Electric in 2006 via the acquisition of Netbotz.   He brings an entrepreneurial approach to Sales Leadership, a proven track record of leading-edge solutions, and was a founding member of the Schneider Electric DCIM team.  Jonathan lives in Austin, Texas enjoys running, golf, and Texas Longhorn football.

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Margarita Groisman is the Founder of CentralAxis and is passionate about impact-focused solutions, and making data-driven decisions. She has previous experience with Impact Labs and more recently, Microsoft.

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Trevor Dielmann has more than a decade of experience in the construction industry, most recently having spent 5 years in the semiconductor industry designing and constructing research and development facilities for a top 5 fabless semiconductor company.

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Michael Giannou is a seasoned and accomplished global sales executive, dedicated to making a significant impact on Fortune 500 enterprises through strategic business development, visionary leadership, and team building. With a track record of spearheading diverse revenue streams and creating multi-million-dollar sales units, Michael has consistently demonstrated his ability to drive growth and transformation within the world of enterprise sales.

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Laura Munoz Becerra is the winner of DCD's Young Mission-Critical Engineer of the Year award.

With a degree in mechanical engineering, Laura joined the highly competitive Meta DEC Gold program, where she discovered her passion and talent for telecommunications. In just a few years, Laura has grown from a talented engineering graduate into a key leader driving innovative solutions at the forefront of Meta’s mission-critical infrastructure, consistently demonstrating ingenuity, innovation, lateral thinking, and calmness under pressure throughout her work.

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George started his first technology publication in 1998, focused on the 'plumbing' of the Internet and has been building and connecting digital infrastructure communities all over the world,

George is fascinated by the sheer scale of the digital infrastructure that is yet to be built, one that will support AI and a new world of accelerated computing; it is 'mission critical' to the future of every industry and every person on the planet and must be done sustainably.

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Tarif is a veteran of over two decades in the data center space, with extensive experience in the design, development, construction, commissioning, deployment, maintenance and operation of data centers.

Prior to joining Flexnode, he was VP of Data Center Infrastructure at NTT Ltd. (Americas), where he deployed ground-breaking technologies in data centers to improve efficiencies and reduce carbon footprints, including the first use of solid oxide fuel cells running on biogas from cow manure to produce electricity at a data center, and the implementation of virtualized cooling, a project that won the Uptime Institute Green Enterprise IT award. Having built a solid core, he now gets his kicks living on the edge.

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Hands on technology executive with over 30 years of leadership in architectural definition, team building, engineering execution, and launch success. Results oriented with a strong track record of execution, incorporating many first to market IP elements. Track record of talent acquisition, development, and retention. Core Competencies: Cultivating innovation, execution planning/steering, tech partner relationships, and customer collaboration.

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Wellington Lordelo is the Global Director of AI and Innovation at Digital Realty, where he drives cutting-edge solutions that help enterprises and service providers harness the power of AI and data-driven strategies for digital transformation. With over 20 years of experience in IT and telecom, Wellington has a proven track record of collaborating globally with Fortune 500 companies on multi-cloud solutions, data center optimization, and enterprise strategy.
He holds the main certifications in Generative AI, Network and has spoken at numerous industry events across the Americas.

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Dr. Varun Sivaram is senior fellow for energy and climate at the Council on Foreign Relations and brings experience as a C-suite executive at two publicly listed companies, as a senior U.S. diplomat, and as a physicist with expertise in clean energy technologies. Dr. Sivaram served as chief strategy and innovation officer at Ørsted, a $25 billion Fortune Global 500 company that is the world’s largest producer of offshore wind energy. His teams executed several billion dollars in clean energy asset acquisitions, divestments, joint ventures, and structured financing products; developed the company’s strategic approach to build renewable energy across three continents; and launched Ørsted Ventures to invest in next-generation technologies. Earlier in his career, he served as chief technology Officer at ReNew Power, a publicly listed multibillion-dollar company that is India’s largest producer of renewable energy, and as a consultant at McKinsey & Co.

Dr. Sivaram served for the first two years of President Joe Biden’s administration in the White House and State Department as the managing director for clean energy and senior advisor to Secretary John Kerry, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. He created and led the First Movers Coalition, which President Biden called the flagship U.S. public-private partnership on climate. Dr. Sivaram has also served in state and local government as senior advisor to the mayor of Los Angeles and to the governor of New York.

A widely published scientist and innovation scholar, Sivaram has served on the faculty of Columbia University and Georgetown University and was also previously fellow and director of the energy and climate program at the Council on Foreign Relations. His books include Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet, Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission, and Digital Decarbonization: Promoting Digital Innovations to Advance Clean Energy Systems.

TIME Magazine named Sivaram to its TIME 100 Next list of the next hundred most influential people in the world, MIT Technology Review named him one of the top 35 innovators under 35, and the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader. His TED Talk on India's clean energy transition has been viewed more than one million times. Sivaram serves on the boards of the Atlantic Council, the Breakthrough Institute, and Aventurine Partners. A Rhodes and Truman Scholar, he holds a PhD in condensed matter physics from Oxford University, and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.

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