Jason Carolan
Jason Carolan leads Flexential’s customer-driven innovation and advisory programs office, providing leading insights to product and technology evolution in a dynamic industry. Operationally, Jason keeps grounded by leading our information technology and security teams, enabling new products and services. He and his team are responsible for developing insights on what’s next on the horizon to further position the company to empower enterprise's hybrid IT journeys. He joined the company in 2011 and has held various roles in product, operations and technical management.
Jason has more than 25 years of experience in leadership positions in product architecture, software engineering, technical sales and support across a variety of companies, including Sun Microsystems, where Jason was honored as a Distinguished Engineer, VMware and the Mayo Clinic.
Jason was the lead author of “Building N1 Grid Solutions,” one of the first books highlighting the combined use of virtualization and automation. He also has several patents in networking, data center resource management, virtualization and security.
He has a bachelor’s degree from Luther College and a master’s degree from Western Governor’s University.
Jason Carolan
Jason Carolan leads Flexential’s customer-driven innovation and advisory programs office, providing leading insights to product and technology evolution in a dynamic industry. Operationally, Jason keeps grounded by leading our information technology and security teams, enabling new products and services. He and his team are responsible for developing insights on what’s next on the horizon to further position the company to empower enterprise's hybrid IT journeys. He joined the company in 2011 and has held various roles in product, operations and technical management.
Jason has more than 25 years of experience in leadership positions in product architecture, software engineering, technical sales and support across a variety of companies, including Sun Microsystems, where Jason was honored as a Distinguished Engineer, VMware and the Mayo Clinic.
Jason was the lead author of “Building N1 Grid Solutions,” one of the first books highlighting the combined use of virtualization and automation. He also has several patents in networking, data center resource management, virtualization and security.
He has a bachelor’s degree from Luther College and a master’s degree from Western Governor’s University.
Michael Bahr
Mike Bahr joined DRW Holdings in 2013 and has built co-locations and stand-alone data centers for trading firms all over the world. Mike is also in charge of all MEP designs for all company offices globally. Mike also is co-founder of a start-up, Co-Low.com, a true subscription based colocation/data center finder for all IT needs. Mike lives in Crown Point, IN with his wife Colleen and his four children.
Tom Traugott
Tom spearheads EdgeCore’s understanding and adoption of emerging technologies with a current focus on the impacts and demands of AI on the data center ecosystem. While interacting with a broad spectrum of technologists, industry thought leaders, and community stakeholders, Tom ensures that EdgeCore stays at the forefront of innovation, geographic expansion, and future trends in order to deliver on the company’s promise to provide safe, sustainable, and futureproof data center solutions to the world’s largest cloud and technology companies. Tom’s industry experience began in the post-dot com early 2000s period and stretches through the rise of enterprise wholesale colocation in the 2000s, through the rise of hyperscale cloud in the 2010s, and now generative AI driven world.
Prior to joining EdgeCore, Tom worked for Amazon Web Services, where he was accountable for strategy and execution for new and existing regions across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas, along with diligence and strategy for additional regions under evaluation. Prior to Amazon, Tom was co-practice leader of Cassidy Turley’s (now Cushman & Wakefield’s) Data Center Advisory Practice, focused on end-user representation and capital markets transactions. Tom previously worked at CoreSite Realty Corporation as Regional VP of Sales.
Tom holds a B.A. in Social Studies from Harvard College, with honors.
François Sterin
François Sterin joined the Data4 Group in December 2022 as Chief Operating Officer (COO). He has over 20 years of in digital infrastructure, datacenters and network for hyperscalers and cloud providers. A member of the executive committee, he oversees the group business operations. He also manages the CSR policy via the Data4Good program.
Laura Ortman
Laura was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Cologix in 2022 after serving as the company’s President and Chief Revenue Officer since 2018. Laura has over 25 years of experience in cloud and technology global leadership focused on GTM strategy, revenue growth, global customer success, sales and account management, and revenue and client relationship management. Laura was EVP and Chief Customer Officer at Equinix, and prior she spent nine years at VMware, overseeing the Cloud Services business as co-General Manager and Vice President. Laura held global IT and technical support teams for Jeppesen, a Boeing Company, and served various technical and global leadership positions at Lockheed Martin. Laura is also on the board of Digital Edge DC. Laura holds an MBA in Information Systems from Regis University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) in Marketing from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where she played collegiate tennis.
Phill Lawson-Shanks
Phill 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.
