IO, provider of data center colocation services, has appointed Michael Berry as its new CFO, reporting to the company's CEO George Slessman.

Berry comes from SolarWinds, a publicly traded IT management software firm, where he served as executive VP and CFO. At IO, he will be responsible for financial planning and analysis, accounting, investor relations and other finance-adminstration aspects of the business.

“I am very happy to have Mike join IO,” Slessman said. “His experience as a proven operational leader and technology executive will support IO's growth and provide a solid financial and operational foundation for the organization.”

Berry's former employer SolarWinds made US$300m in annual sales and had more than $3.5bn in market capitalization, according to IO. While there, he overhauled the firm's financial planning process and was deeply involved in 10 acquisitions made by the company.

During his tenure, the company grew in profitability, increased its operating cash flow as well as revenue.

Prior to SolarWinds, Berry was CFO at i2, a provider of supply-chain software and services, also publicly held. There, he rebuilt and scaled the company's finance and investor relations organizations and implemented a number of financial planning systems.

He played a key role in the sale of i2 in 2010 to JDA Software.

One of his tasks at IO may be to oversee a potential public offering, something the company's leadership team has been contemplating since at least early last year. IO president Tony Wanger told us in February 2012 that he expected IO to file for an IPO within the following 12 months.

QTS hires its first chief investment officer

Large US data center services provider QTS has hired career investment banker Jeffrey Berson to be its first chief investment officer.

Earlier this week, QTS filed for a US$300m initial public offering and said it was preparing to convert into a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) – a structure some real estate companies use, which allows them to pay substantially fewer corporate taxes.

Berson will be responsible for QTS’ investment strategy, including business development, strategic projects and investor relations, as well as supporting the office of the CFO on capital markets activities. He will be based out of the company's corporate offices in Overland Park, Kansas.

Much of Berson's 20 years of investment banking experience was with data center and network infrastructure companies, including data centers, managed service providers, communication companies and fiber providers.

Berson comes to QTS from UBS, where he was a managing director of the Media and Communications Group, focused primarily on the communications infrastructure and the telecommunications services sectors. Among his other past roles are those of head of the Communications Services Investment Banking Gropu at Oppenheimer & Co., managing director of Barclays Capital's Telecom Group and a number of investment-banking roles at CIBC World Markets.

Chad Williams, QTS chairman and CEO, said Berson's experience in the data center and managed services industry made him a good fit for the new role. “These are exciting times for the growth of QTS and Jeff’s knowledge and experience will play a critical role.”