DICE SOUTHEAST 2022

Chris leads Flexential as a proven Chief Executive Officer with deep expertise in the economics, delivery and operations of the data center and hybrid cloud businesses. He is responsible for setting and managing the strategic priorities that drive profitable growth. Chris joined the company in 2016. Prior to Flexential, Chris was the Chief Executive Officer of Telx Holdings, a leading interconnection and data center solutions provider based in New York City, New York. He has over 25 years of combined executive leadership experience in finance and operations, working for Daniels & Associates, BroadStreet Communications and Motient Corporation. Chris holds a B.A. degree in History from Dartmouth College as well as a M.B.A. degree in International Business from New York University.

Jeff Uphues is responsible for DC BLOX’s business strategy, mission, and goals guiding the company’s vision of designing, building and operating a network of innovative data centers that bring best-in-class business services to the Edge. A tireless tech-savvy executive, strategist and cloud services entrepreneur, Jeff has held C-suite leadership positions in organizations ranging in size from Fortune 50 companies to start-ups including Liquid Web, Cbeyond and Bandwidth.com. He is an active board member for several privately held technology software companies and is co-chair of the New Venture Competition for the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta. Jeff is a graduate of Harvard Business School and completed undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. He lives in Alpharetta, GA with his wife and two girls (who are known as the Three Texas Chix) where he serves as the president of the Jr. Raiders Girls Lacrosse Board.

Scott Willis serves as DartPoints President and Chief Executive Officer and also serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Willis is a recognized global technology leader in the communications industry with a demonstrated track record of building successful businesses for both large and small organizations to significant scale. He has extensive leadership experience transforming organizations, setting strategic direction, overseeing complex operations and confecting corporate alliances while delivering growth and profitability to the business. Scott has the right balance of strategic leadership, vision, enthusiasm and operational and technical expertise for building sustainable customer relationships to elevate DartPoints to be a leader in the edge data center market. Mr. Willis brings over 30 years of experience in the technology industry with a history of proven success. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Zinwave, a leading global provider of in-building wireless products and solutions. He successfully transformed the organization, reset the global strategy, led the charge to innovate new products and solutions which primed the company to achieve aggressive growth. Through his leadership, he positioned Zinwave as a global leader of in-building wireless solutions. Over the course of his career, Scott has served in executive leadership roles at respected technology companies including Ericsson, Nokia, BellSouth and Sprint. Before Zinwave, he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Executive for Goodman Networks, a privately held leader in the design, engineering, deployment and integration of wireless communications networks. In his role, he was responsible for all commercial strategy, sales and marketing and grew revenue from $400 million to $1.2 billion annually. Prior to Goodman Networks, Scott was Executive Vice President and General Manager at Ericsson, where he oversaw more than 6,500 personnel across the U.S. and Latin America growing the business from $5 million in revenue annually to more than $3.5 billion in over 5 years. Previously, Scott served as Vice President and General Manager at Nokia Networks, where he led the growth of a new business to $1.5 billion in annual revenue in 3 years and established Nokia Networks as a market leader in North America. Mr. Willis holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management. He also holds continuing executive education certificates from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Sean is the Vice President of Data Center Strategy for the Americas, charged with developing deeper client relationships, broader industry awareness, and enhanced partner collaboration by evangelizing JLL’s broad facility management, sustainability, commissioning, capital market, colocation and cloud advisory services. He works with clients to fully leverage the firm’s capabilities to maximum digital infrastructure value, minimize facility risk and drive data center innovation. Sean has also led Digital Transformation strategic programs at two Fortune 500 companies, executing global data center consolidation and cloud migration, and initiatives that resulted in reduced time-to-revenue. He is active in the industry, participating in panels, roundtables, podcasts, and other speaking events. Sean publishes regularly on such venues as Data Center Frontier, Data Center Dynamics, Mission Critical Magazine, and Data Centre Magazine.

Katie Comer serves as Meta’s Head of Community Development for North America. Meta,formerly known as the Facebook Company, is the parent company of the apps you know and love−Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Workplace, Messenger, and Quest. In this role, she manages the Community Development team within 17 Meta global data center locations in North America. Her team is responsible for community relations, government affairs, and corporate social responsibility initiatives within these data center communities. Through Meta platforms and products, she and her team give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Data Centers, and the tens of thousands of servers installed in them, are the foundation upon how the company rapidly scales their infrastructure to operate Meta’s innovative and growing technology. Prior to joining Meta, Katie served as the Director of Development and Interim Chief Development Officer for the American Red Cross. Before joining the nonprofit sector, she worked for News Corporation in account management and sales. Katie worked with companies such as Coca-Cola, Disney Sports, P&G, and Rubbermaid to implement in store, print, and digital marketing sales. Katie is a graduate of the University of Georgia and has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from Georgia State University. Katie is a member of Leadership Atlanta, Georgia 4-H Advisory Board, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Huntsville Chamber of Commerce Board, and the Walton County Chamber of Commerce Board. She resides in Atlanta with her husband.

Sam Markman works as a Corporate Economic Development Manager serving the Southeast-Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan Xcel Energy Service Territories. Sam joined Xcel Energy in May 2022, after most recently serving as the Economic Development Director for Anoka County in the Twin Cities Metro Region of Minnesota. As a born and raised Minnesotan and graduate of the University of Minnesota, Sam is dedicated to representing Xcel Energy’s Corporate Economic Development Team to increase awareness and project competitiveness to the territories she serves. When not out selling the great benefits to Xcel Energy, Sam enjoys spending time with her Fiancée Amy and their ankle-biter dog, Cash. Living in North-Central Minnesota there is never a shortage of outdoor recreation and activities!

Kurt’s professional engineering career spans over 40 years. His expertise includes structural engineering design for Mission Critical Facilities such as Data Centers, Health Care Facilities such as Hospitals and Clinics and Life Sciences Facilities such as Biopharmaceutical Pilot Plants and Production Facilities around the United States and the World. His area of expertise is in designing buildings to be occupable after natural disasters including Tornados, Hurricanes and Earthquakes. He has been the structural engineer of record for conventional “fixed Base Buildings” ranging from 1-23 stories, “Base Isolated Buildings” ranging from 1-5 stories, and the retrofit and new construction of buildings incorporating Fluid Viscous Dampers ranging from 1-22 stories. He has published numerous papers on passive energy dissipation and presented the findings at various conventions in Boston, San Francisco and Milan. For over 23 years as the Founding Principal at PARADIGM Structural Engineers, Kurt spends most of his time developing new leaders at PARADIGM and mentoring staff in Chicago and San Francisco.

As a Co-founder in 1992, and currently the Director of Environmental Impact at MIRATECH Corporation, Jim provides leadership, strategy and product design expertise for their Power Generation division. Jim rejoined Miratech Corporation in 2019 heading up the ENP Concepts consulting arm after management positions at Rypos Corporation and leading the environmental department at PowerSecure’s microgrid group. In charge of tracking all Federal, State and Local emissions regulations as they pertain to backup generators located at Datacenters in North America and Europe, he ensures MIRATECH’s products and services offer ongoing compliance. Mr. McDonald has testified before the Federal EPA numerous times and is considered a valuable stakeholder on several rulemaking teams at the State Level. For 15 years he has been an instructor for the Advanced School of the Electrical Generating Systems Association on the subject of Emissions from Diesel engines and has authored the textbook chapter on the same. He has a Patent Pending on the use of wire mesh DPF substrates in the pre-heating of SCR catalyst blocks. As the originator of the ‘GVU’ measurement parameter, Jim performs analyses to show the relative comparison on Ultraclean diesel generators versus grid supplied power. As such he advocates for the environmentally justifiable use of stationary generators until emerging renewable technologies are proven and cost effective. Jim holds a B.S in mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware.

Terry Rennaker joined Equinix in 2018 to lead Development for the Hyperscale Infrastructure Team (HIT). The Equinix HIT business services the needs of the top 12 global cloud, technology, and SaaS providers for their global large footprint deployments. Prior to joining Equinix, Mr. Rennaker was a principal in his own project management services company. Rennaker Company provided project and program management for some of the largest data center users in the world. He has delivered over $4 billion in projects worldwide. Mr. Rennaker also held the position of Management of Integrated Solutions Development for the Skanska where he focused on integrating the supply chain including finance, new technology research and development, design, construction, commissioning, and operations of data centers. He served as the Director of Mission Critical for CB Richard Ellis in Canada and was responsible for the successful delivery of a $700 million data center program. Terry was the CBRE Critical Properties Global Knowledge Network team. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and played for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL.

As EVP of Construction and Development, Robbie is the leader of T5’s Construction Services division, where he sets the overall vision and business strategy. He holds the general contractors license and/or business license for construction activity across the organization. Robbie holds a degree in Construction Management from Western Carolina University.

Chris Gibbs joined Tindall in 2019 as Business Development Manager to the Georgia Division, where he was responsible for pursuing business opportunities and identifying potential partners that aligned with company goals in the region. He was also a key player in the launch of the Tindall Superior Lightweight All-Purpose Beam™ (T-SLAB) product line. As Director of Marketing, Gibbs’s corporate leadership role involves planning and administering all marketing efforts across Tindall’s full footprint. He works directly with the Sales Team and General Managers to drive strategic efforts in sales, analytics, and marketing tools. Gibbs’s early career focused on Architectural and Commercial building material sales, leading him to the construction and marketing industries. He has a background in Sales Management, working with Architectural Polymers, Forterra, and Hanson Brick. He has extensive experience with conventional wall systems and is a brick expert. Gibbs graduated from the Atlanta College of Art, later absorbed by Savannah College of Art and Design, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

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.

As the Data Center Business Development Manager at Distech Controls, Rob Coyle removes barriers in the data center market to enable others to achieve their goals. Coyle is also a program lead in the Open Compute Project, a foundation backed by the world's largest data center companies. With 15 years of mission critical project experience, Rob Coyle is energized by creating a more sustainable future through the convergence of digital and physical infrastructure.

David Klein is the CEO and founder of DHK Storage, Inc, designer and manufacturer of the ChilliRack® and ChilliAire™ data center cooling systems. David currently has 32 patents awarded for the ChilliRack® system in 17 countries. Over the past 27 years working on networks and data centers, he has achieved numerous Cisco, Juniper, and VMware certifications.

David believes good relationships and purpose affects one's life at every moment. He has been able to realize his calling to create teams that simplify and enhance people’s interactions within the world of technology. In the industry since 1997, his career has been anything but typical leading IT and technical teams in Hyperscale, Cloud, Hybrid IT, and Colocation. In his spare time, David enjoys boardgames with friends, family time with his wife and three teenage daughters, and perfecting how to grill.

Daniel English is the President and Co-Founder of Legacy Investing, an investment firm focused on technology impacted real estate. Legacy has completed >$3B in transactions across 19M SF in data centers, e-commerce industrial assets, and life science buildings. Prior to co-founding Legacy Investing, Daniel was a tech start-up executive with leadership roles across M&A, corporate development, strategy, and product management. Daniel studied engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and Economics and Finance at Emory University.

Brian Kirschbaum is a Partner at Astra Capital Management, a Washington, DC-based private equity firm that invests in growth businesses in the communications and technology services sectors. Brian has over 15 years of technology investing experience and is the Chairman of DartPoints, a leading edge colocation data center operator. Brian graduated from Princeton University and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Michael bring 23 years of investment banking, commercial real estate, and digital infrastructure experience, and with it he brings a deep understanding how mission critical infrastructure is the bind which holds today’s digital economy together. Serving as Chief Executive Officer for Layer 9 Data Centers, Michael leads the organization’s growth initiatives into Latin America where Layer 9 will begin delivering in 2023 hyperscale data center solutions to cloud service providers and enterprise 1000 clients. Michael has maintained leadership roles with hyperscale data center operators, Digital Realty and DuPont Fabros Technology and previously served in Portfolio Management at Equity Office Properties through the sale of the company to Blackstone in 2007. Michael’s investment banking experience at JP Morgan and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group focused on capital debt placements and distressed credit workouts. Michael recently earned his Executive Education Certifications in Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence from the University Of Oxford.

Mr. Dolan brings over 30 years of corporate business experience in the Atlanta marketplace to the market leading Atlanta Tenant Representation team at JLL. He represents clients in facility and site acquisition/disposition in accordance with their business plans for office Real Estate with specialties in Mission Critical/Data Center Real Estate, for which he is the Southeast practice lead, and Contact Centers. Through strategic planning, site selection, implementation, and leading contract negotiations and lease reviews, Mike drives costs out of transactions and saves his clients critical time. His well-developed technical knowledge of the real estate process and his past risk management experience give him a broad understanding of the important principles that must be incorporated into complex transactions for the ultimate protection of his clients.