Come hear IT industry experts speak about the current state of cloud implementations. It's no longer a question of whether or not you should move into cloud computing. The question becomes whether or not you should build your own cloud, buy into existing cloud services from a third-party provider, or do something in between these two cases. Some topics to be covered include:
• The business benefits to be gained from adopting a cloud computing model
• The difference between terms like public clouds, private clouds and hybrids
• The drivers prompting IT leaders to move quickly to develop their own cloud strategies and early cloud pilots
Featured Speaker(s)
Rodney Rogers
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Virtustream
Rodney Rogers has been a well recognized thought leader and successful entrepreneur in the Information Technology Services industry for over 22 years. Rodney was formerly the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Adjoined Consulting. Adjoined was known as the fastest growing U.S.-based IT Services company from its inception through its acquisition by Kanbay (NASDQ: KBAY) in 2006.
Rodney then became COO of Kanbay, a 7,000 person global IT Services firm which was subsequently acquired by Capgemini (Paris: CAP) in 2007. As such, Adjoined set the bar for private U.S-based IT Services value creation in the post-2000 era. Rodney was recognized on Kennedy Research's global list of "Top 25 Most Influential Consultants" and was a finalist for the Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" award along with Adjoined being recognized on the PWC/Entrepreneur U.S. "Hot 100" list (ranked #9 across all industries) prior to its sale.
Rodney then co-founded Virtustream in 2008 and is Chairman and CEO. Virtustream's xStream platform is the first true consumption-based hybrid Cloud provisioning platform capable of providing guaranteed computing resources suitable for supporting mission-critical enterprise class application workloads. Virtustream complements its xStream platform with Cloud advisory/integration services and application managed services.
As a lead-operator and entrepreneur, Rodney has raised over $150 million in venture capital for the companies that he has developed to-date. Rodney is also non-Executive Chairman of Teliris, the #2 provider of telepresence solutions worldwide, and a Board member of UnitedLex, a leading India-based Knowledge Process Outsourcer and Greensmith, an emerging leader in distributed energy storage software technology.
Alex Funkhouser
President
SherlockTech Staffing
Alex Funkhouser was CEO of his first company at the age of five, when he sold his father's organically grown vegetables door to door. In 1980, he wrote his first lines of code on a TRS-80. At 15, he bought a 1966 Ford Mustang GT with the funds from his second company, a lawn-care business. In 2005, Funkhouser opened his fifth business, Sherlock Technology Staffing & Recruiting, opening up international recruitment call centers across the world to help companies around the globe.
Funkhouser is a headlining speaker throughout South Florida and has moderated international forums such as the Staffing Industry Executive Forum. His companies have consulted with many top international companies, including local heavy weights Carnival Corp., Office Depot and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. From college to present, Funkhouser has consistently won awards for his entrepreneurial leanings, including "Entrepreneur of the Year, State of Missouri". He was awarded the "Beauty and the Beast" award by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for contributions to the community and the foundation. He serves as Chairman of Business Advisory Board of the Academy of Information Technology in Miami-Dade County school system, part of the National Academy Foundation www.naf.org.
Mr. Funkhouser earned an International MBA from Nyenrode University, The Netherlands School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science from Washington University. Mr. Funkhouser is fluent in Spanish, and speaks some Dutch. Mr. Funkhouser's current goal is to build this fifth company to become a highly attractive candidate for corporate acquisition. Regarding Mr. Funkhouser's business philosophy, he believes in: "Knowing who is best at what, and knowing who needs the best!"
Ron Faltin
Director of Business Development, Cloud Computing
Sirius Computer Solutions
Over the past ten years, Ron has contributed in various leadership, management, and sales capacities toward the build out of Sirius' services consultancy, most recently in the capacity of leading business development efforts for the Sirius Cloud Computing strategy. Mr. Faltin has driven a common Cloud brand with national focus to the Sirius client base, strategic cloud partnerships, and the Sirius Sales team. In doing so, Sirius is asserting itself in a leadership position amongst systems integrators for Cloud nationally. Prior to joining Sirius, Mr. Faltin spent 15 years in various corporate, management, and technical capacities in the finance and insurance industry. Mr. Faltin has a double baccalaureate in computer science and business administration from the University of Nebraska.
Roger Hernandez
Senior Software Architect
PartnerCommunity
Roger Hernandez has over 20 years of experience in Information Technology, including applications development, infrastructure management, database management, software architecture and development team management. At PartnerCommunity, he is charged with evaluation and selection of new technologies and platforms. His responsibilities include developing and implementing system and software architectures for the company's products and services.
