The IDCA Board of Directors (“Board”) is responsible for articulating and upholding the vision, values and mission of the organization. The Board provides the data center community a direct voice into IDCA’s activities and fosters bi-directional interaction with data center experts, designers, developers, managers, owners, operators, and data center solution providers. The Board also acts as the steering committee, hence one key endeavor of the Board is to provide supervision, guidance and direction to the IDCA committee and sub-committees. IDCA Board of Directors consists of multiple research committees, representing IDCA’s research and development body, and makes research and recommendations on programmatic issues of interest to IDCA. The Board makes strategic decisions about the direction and faith of data center industry as viewed by IDCA. The Board is ultimately responsible for the management and monitoring of long-term data center industry goals at the strategic level, verifying soundness with established objectives, and keeping established frameworks accordingly. The Board composition includes carefully elected professionals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives as follows:

Mehdi Paryavi

Chairman
Richard Bowie

Programs Development Council
Carlos Tavares

Strategy Council
Ashley Sharif

Legal Counsel
Brian K. Branson

Member of the Board
Christine Hoerbinger

Secretary of the Board

Mehdi Paryavi

Chairman

International Data Center Authority

Chairman

Mehdi is the President of TechXact Group and Chairman of International Data Center Authority (IDCA). He is first individual to realize the urge, pioneer the concept and advocate for “application-centric” data centers. He actively promotes data center specialization across industry verticals suited to the application needs. He is a futurist living in the present, a thought leader in true Cloud “not just Virtualized, but Realized” (as he puts it), expert strategist and transitionist between the logical abstraction layers of cloud to its physical merits and possibilities. His in-depth understanding of the “data center” and its inherited comprehensive unity of IT and Facilities merged with his sensible and realistic approach towards energy efficiency and environmentally conscious designs and implementations sheds light into the clouded ambiguities of “big data” and caters harmony to the world at large.

He has led the campaign to bring knowledge, standardization, compliance, best practices, and technological developments as well as effective data center expertise to the data center industry, both nationally and internationally specially for mission-critical environments effectively for national security projects, securities and exchange projects, aviation and transport, military and defense, oil and gas, telecommunication, healthcare, etc. Mehdi is known for his immense experience, thought leadership, visionary strategies, comprehensive expertise, effective methods and systematic, yet fluid approach.

Aside from his speeches in conferences, symposiums, lectures, sessions with top officials and discussions at expert assemblies, his advice and strategies are typically used as benchmarks at many government and private institutions. Thus, organizations typically seek his recommendations for best practices and approach towards their short-term and long-term planning of data center and data management.

Contact Mehdi at chairman@idc-a.org.

Visit Chairman's Notes: mehdiparyavi.com.

Richard Bowie

Programs Development Council

International Data Center Authority

Member of the Board, Program Development

Richard worked thirty years for the Federal Government designing and teaching management and executive training courses and providing internal management consulting services. Received numerous letters of commendations from top executives, including the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Also received numerous Performance Awards including the Career Achievement Award.

Contact Richard at richard.b@idc-a.org.

Carlos Tavares

Strategy Council

International Data Center Authority

Strategy Counsel

Carlos started his career as a respected political advisor who represented many successful candidates. His negotiation techniques and strategies have helped many high level authorities get elected to positions of Governors and Members of Congress by leading their campaign to successfully become elected officials. Those officials have gone ahead and made a huge impact not just in their own country but throughout the globe. Carlos also served as an advisor to the Department of State where he negotiated the export and import legislative feat where no one believed it could be possible in a divided government while establishing partnership with Private and Public Institutions aiming to engage at the United Nations Conferences.

Carlos is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances for TechXact Group. He is in charge of mega projects at the Group, high delegate accounts as well as handles an elite team of experts to handle TechXact’s advance data center and infrastructure services for TechXact globally. Carlos is a unique professional with stiff discipline, yet friendly attitude that can drive teams and get things done! His diverse experience in Data Center Project Management, Data Center Lifecycle Management, Data Center Financial Modeling, Data Center and Business Planning, Data Center Performance Matrix Management, Data Center Personnel, Staff and Operations Management as well as his 20+ years of in-depth knowledge and know-how of the realities of political atmospheres, international relations, and strategic business/organizational development worldwide and specifically in the Americas.

Carlos is situated in Washington DC and is based at TechXact Headquarters along side TechXact’s top executives. Carlos is also a Member of Board of Directors, as Strategy Council, at the International Data Center Authority (IDCA).

Contact Carlos at carlos.t@idc-a.org.

Christine Hoerbinger

Secretary of the Board

International Data Center Authority

Secretary of the Board of Directors

Christine Hoerbinger is the Secretary of the Board of Directors at the International Data Center Authority (IDCA). Christine comes from 30+ years of experience working with some of the world’s most reputable institutions. She has edited Regional Economic Outlooks (REO), coached, supported and organized writing course for MCD economists, planned and organized Washington-based outreach events for management and policymakers and drafted commentaries for international press, blogs, books, articles and surveys.

She is an expert writer and editor who has served in the capacity of Chief Editor, Analyst, Researcher, Consultant, Project Evaluation Officer, Public Affairs Officer and Assistant Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Contact Christine at christine.h@idc-a.org.

Ashley Sharif

Legal Counsel

International Data Center Authority

Legal Counsel

Ashley Sharif is a business and financial law specialist, securities and due diligence attorney who is expert in range of securities transactions including: (i) real estate investment trusts (REITs); (ii) business development companies (BDCs) investing in middle market companies; (iii) private equity offerings; and (iv) programs structured to qualify as like-kind exchanges under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. Ashley is a graduate of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she graduated cum laude. She was a member of the National Trial Team, an articles editor of the Journal of Business and Technology Law, litigation and advocacy award recipient and a member of the business law society. Ashley has firm grip over information technology industry and the legal frameworks, codes and norms around the industry. Up until January 2016, Ashley has served as Vice President at SK Research, a division of RCS Capital Corporation (NYSE:RCAP).

Contact Ashley at ashley.s@idc-a.org.

Brian K. Branson

Member of the Board

International Data Center Authority

Member of the Board

Brian Branson is a veteran and seasoned executive who has served Corporate America for decades. He has served in Global Knowledge Training for 11 years, as the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since April 2009 after being the organization’s Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for four years. During this period Brian has lead his organization in training, educating and providing certifications to information technology professionals not only the Fortune 500s, the Federal Government but globally as the largest professional training company. Prior to joining Global Knowledge, his roles included: Vice President/General Manager of DoubleClick, Inc.’s Enterprise Marketing Services Division, CFO of SmartPath, Inc., before its acquisition by DoubleClick, CFO/Treasurer position at BTI Telecom, a $250+ million local exchange carrier, and Ernst & Young.

Contact Brian at brian.b@idc-a.org.

Technical Standards Committee

IDCA Technical Standards Committee represents IDCA’s interest in matters pertaining to standards. Technical Standards Committee is composed of elite members from diverse yet premier data center-run organizations who are engaged with in-depth issues of data center industry at hand. Committee’s core mission is to provide remedy to the current data center industry gaps via developing the next-generation data center standards necessary to address and provide resolution to those gaps. All Technical Standards Committee’s effort is fundamentally rooted in the Application Ecosystem (AE)℠ and within the framework of the Infinity Paradigm®. In addition, the Committee further identifies potential new standards needed by the data center community and takes the necessary steps to initiate development of such needed standards with the appropriate organizations. Committee Members are also responsible to conduct unremitting interactions with the key industry stakeholders such as operators, providers, investors and end-users to ensure proper data center foundations, standardization and compliance are rooted within the diverse data center industry segments. Technical Standards Committee’s composition includes carefully elected technical data center experts from diverse industries, backgrounds and perspectives as follows:

Steve Hambruch

TechXact Group
Dikran Kechichian

TechXact Group
Eric Wendorf

Linkedin
Marchelle Adams

U.S. Courts
Rick Collins

AIG
Boris Privalikhin

Time Warner Cable
Zouhir Almai

TechXact Group
Lance Walker

CHRISTUS Health

Steve Hambruch

Chair of Technical Standards Committee

TechXact Group

VP of Global Technical Operations

Mr. Hambruch the Chairman of IDCA Technical Standards Committee and the Technical Council at the IDCA Board of Directors. He is an industry veteran with nearly 30 years of experience in the design, operation, optimization and management of hyperscale data centers and information technology systems. He studied Information Technology at Western Governor’s University and has held over 40 industry certifications and credentials, including the Data Center Expert credential from IDCA. He is a published technical author and technical editor, and currently serves as the data center architect for eBay’s modular data center program, after having previously served as the global data center architect for Paypal.

Contact Steve at steve.h@idc-a.org.

Eric Wendorf

Member of Technical Standards Committee

Global Critical Infrastructure Engineer

Eric Wendorf is a Global Critical Infrastructure Engineer for Linkedin. His technical expertise in data center space, power, and cooling planning and deployment help him advance Linkedin's platform delivery to higher densities, ultimately reducing the cost-to-serve. He is responsible for the health and viability of the critical data center facilities operating Linkedin's website, world's most credible professional network. Eric and his peers have brought new waves of infrastructure and operations innovation and effectiveness as a leading cloud operator through the diverse data centers they concurrently run and maintain.

Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in International Business Management from the Smeal College of Business at The Pennsylvania State University. Before working at Linkedin, Eric was the IT site lead at a strategic customer account data center for HP (Hewlett Packard). He managed the daily service and installation of the IT hardware within two 4MW computer rooms, and in very close coordination with the site facility infrastructure vendor, ensured routine PM of the facility. He also was responsible for completing monthly SOx compliance audits and was the main point of contact for the annual ISO27001 audits.

Contact Eric at eric.w@idc-a.org.

Dikran Kechichian

Member of Technical Standards Committee

TechXact Group

Chief Consultant

Dikran is Chief Consultant, Auditor and Lecturer at TechXact Group and Member of Technical Standards Committee at IDCA. Dikran has over 23 years of solid design, development and implementation of data centers and mission-critical infrastructures. His knowledge and knowhow in data center facilities, specially energy and power components is next to none. He has served as the technical heart of the workgroups he has worked with in the past.

Dikran has traveled to every country in the world and provided his expertise locally to institutions. He is well versed to the local norms and international implications of policies and technical implementations. Dikran is an expert designing renewable & hybrid energy systems, integrated efficient telecom power solutions, electro-mechanical design of large data centers, designing complete panel boards, switchgear and control systems, auditing and designing telecom sites and data center facility infrastructures, managing data center construction, defining and optimizing data center needs. Dikran comes from a history of designing alternative energy and on-site power generation design and development. He has designed and validated DC powered generators, UPS systems, STS/ATS, solar systems, and other complex power systems he is the technical spine to meeting data centers’ requirements.

Contact Dikran at dikran.k@idc-a.org.

Zouhir Almai

Member of Technical Standards Committee

TechXact Group

Regional Director

Zouhir Almai is an active member of the Technical Standards Committee. A data center trainer, Lead Security Auditor and DCA, and one of highest ranked certified DC trainer by IDCA. Zouhir is an expert in the area of data center safety and security as well as one of the world’s best ICT and Network engineers. Zouhir is an expert in the area of Cloud Security and Governance, ICT Platforms for Virtualization and Cloud Methodologies.

Zouhir Almai has assisted for almost 20 years a hundreds of top organization such as federal and state government, ministries, central banks, telecoms and Fortune 500 companies in improving their IT use by developing clear, aligned and monitored strategies, including governance and management, cloud-computing, both physical as well as IP security, BCP & DRP, IT infrastructure, etc.

His career spans many industries: telecom carriers, bank and finances, government, offshoring, manufacturing, distribution, real-estate, etc. Conscious of the importance of knowledge sharing, Zouhir Almai gives numerous lectures at a local and international scale related to IT issues, next generation network engineering, technologies trends and data centers.

Contact Zouhir at zouhir.a@idc-a.org.

Rick Collins

Member of Technical Standards Committee

AIG Group

Sr. Director of Global Data Center Operations

Rick Collins carries decades of experience in IT transformation and data center infrastructure. He is the Sr. Director of Global Data Center Operations at AIG who manages over 200 data center sites and locations globally. He has experience in managing data center people, sites, data center facilities and technology across several industries. Rick has been successful in developing strategic and operational plans, establishing and operating data centers, directing budgeting, mergers and acquisitions.

Rick is an expert in designing application migration plans, BCPs, project management, transition and relocation management, data center operations, planning, etc. He has a proven ability to solve problems and make decisive cost effective decisions that impact the bottom line. Experience being and working with C-level executives across all markets to negotiate contracts, close deals and win the confidence and support at all levels of the organization.

Contact Rick at rick.c@idc-a.org.

Boris Privalikhin

Member of Technical Standards Committee

Time Warner Cable

New York Data Center Manager at Time Warner Cable Inc. | Business Class Data Center Manager

Boris Privalikhin is a New York City Business Class Data Center Manager at Charter Communications, formerly Time Warner Cable, the second nation’s largest cable operator. He is an expert in data center services and space, power and cooling planning and deployment.

Boris has more than fourteen years of experience in building, relocating and managing Mission Critical Data Centers for Navisite / Time Warner Cable / Charter Communication. His previous assignment was with Legg Mason – asset management firm with offices and data centers in New York, Maryland and Connecticut.

Currently Boris managing 35,000 SF Business Class Data Center in Downtown Manhattan. He leads the team of data center technicians, providing Data Center Services and IT/Critical Infrastructure lifecycle support, including planning, installation, commissioning, on-site management and maintenance, monitoring, troubleshooting and de-installation, following operational policies and industry standards and developing and implementing best practices - operating and maintenance strategies - to ensure continuous availability of CI systems. Boris is a certified PMP and ITIL Certified in IT Service Management.

Contact Boris at boris.p@idc-a.org.

Lance Walker

Member of Technical Standards Committee

CHRISTUS Health

Enterprise Data Center Engineer

Joseph Lance Walker is an Enterprise Data Center Engineer II at CHRISTUS Health, one of the nation’s largest Catholic healthcare delivery systems. He is responsible for the operational maintenance, availability, capacity planning and monitoring of the Enterprise Healthcare Data Center and related environmental and facilities concerns.

Lance has extensive technical knowledge and experience in Enterprise Data Center Facilities in the areas of power, cooling and space planning. Day-to-day responsibilities include overseeing data center facilities operations, active monitoring of all CHRISTUS data centers, monitoring detection systems, managing relationships with facilities & technology based vendors, and ensuring the capacity and availability of all the data centers across the environment. Responsible for the Electrical distribution systems design and evaluation, Mobile Electric Power (MEP) hardware/software products, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), building controls and automation, HVAC cooling systems, airflow balance and analysis, cooling towers, chillers, load calculations and space planning.

Lance comes from 21 years of experience from the U.S. Air Force. He has worked in the capacities of Implementation Planning Chief, Electrical Team Leader, 28th Civil Engineer Squadron, NCOIC Electric Systems, Deployment Cell, HQ U.S. Special Operations Command, etc. at United States Air Force and United States Special Operations Command.

Lance works as part of a cross-functional team that deals with the full spectrum of technology and will fulfill the role of third level support for data center operations, providing training and direction to other technical staff that perform the bulk of the first and second level support tasks.

Contact Lance at lance.w@idc-a.org.

Technical Standards Committee Advisory Panel

Richard Zanatta

U.S. House
Marcus Falz

Verizon
Greg Marks

Salesforce
Michelle S. Walker

Department of State
Timothy Grant

MLB Advance Media

Greg Marks

Member of Technical Standards Committee

Salesforce

Director of Datacenters Eastern Regions

Greg Marks has over 32 years’ experience in the ICT industry, covering strategy, design and management across commercial and government sectors. He is a specialist in large-scale data centre development and telecommunications solutions, with particular skill in strategic and master planning, procurement, telecommunications and networking, design, management and operations, contract negotiations and project recovery.

Greg is currently serving Salesforce as a Director of Datacenters Eastern Regions.

With more than 20 years experience in the information systems field in both corporate and not-for-profit organizations, and skills in a wide variety of technology and business disciplines, Greg Marks has traditionally been brought in to transform organizations into more efficient operations.

Contact Greg at greg.m@idc-a.org.

Timothy Grant

Member of Technical Standards Committee

Major League Baseball Advance Media

Vice President, Technical Facilities

Timothy Grant is the Vice President of the Technical Facilities at MLBAM (Major League Baseball Advance Media). MLB, WWE Network, WatchESPN, HBO Now, NHL, PGA Tour Live, CBS Sportsline's Madness on Demand service are all being streamed by the data center infrastructure that Tim provides to the broadcasting industry. Tim leads a topology of data centers extending to 18 facilities just in the United States with an extremely talented team of directors, management, integration and operations staff to design, build, operate and maintain our technical office and broadcast data center facilities.

The team that Tim leads over primary services of MLB which are to deliver live video content to customers in multiple formats via 24x7 environment and backbone infrastructure for OTT and VOD to major partners such as Sony and HBO. MLBAM is probably the fastest growing live streaming and video broadcasting network for whom the responsibility of supporting all infrastructures falls under Tim’s team. Tim is an expert in adhering media and IT layers with data center facilities and infrastructural possibilities.

Contact Tim at timothy.g@idc-a.org.

Michelle Sparrow-Walker

Member of Technical Standards Committee

United States Department of State

Director of Systems & Integration Office

Ms. Sparrow-Walker served in the Department of State since September 2007 after serving over 25 years with Department of Army supporting both Military and Civilian Personnel Systems and Data Centers. She is currently the Department Director of the Information Resource Management Bureau’s, Systems and Integration Office.

Ms. Sparrow-Walker has a wide variety of experience in IT Financial Planning and Budgeting, Contracting, and IT Systems Development, Operations and Maintenance. Her significant accomplishments include the centralization of a distributed Army Civilian Recruitment System, supporting over 300,000 worldwide internal users, as well as the general public; the deployment of the State Department’s first Enterprise Intranet SharePoint environment, one of the largest implementations of SharePoint in the world – second only to Microsoft itself, the implementation of the State Department’s Enterprise Data Warehouse, and the Department’s first implementation of a Modular Data Center, which provides the ability to expand and contract IT resources based upon the needs of the Department.

As SIO Director, Michelle is responsible for operating the U.S. State Department’s core data centers, providing enterprise collaboration services, and delivering integrated software solutions. Michelle’s goal is to meet the Department’s information technology strategic mission by driving efficiencies in the Department’s core Data Centers through increased virtualization, reduced operational costs, and private cloud computing.

Contact Michelle at michelle.w@idc-a.org.

Richard Zanatta

Member of Technical Standards Committee

United States House of Representatives

Director of Networking and Facilities

Rich Zanatta is the Director of Networking and Facilities at the United States House of Representatives. His in-depth knowledge in both technology and data center infrastructure help him drive and manage organization-wide transformations and ensure alignment with business strategies. Zanatta is responsible for ensuring the House has viable voice and data communications, sustainable data centers and supports various Business Continuity elements supporting the the U.S. House.

Zanatta has a unique combination of military, private and public sector experience. Before joining the House in 2001, Zanatta worked for Lucent Technologies / International Network Services as a project manager and Managing Consultant and served in the United States Navy for 24 years. He served as a Presidential Communications Officer and Chief of Information Technology at the White House Communications Agency and Chief Integration Officer at U.S. Space Command/NORAD.

Contact Richard at richard.z@idc-a.org.

Marchelle Adams

Member of Technical Standards Committee

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Program Analyst

Marchelle is a member of the Technical Standards Committee Advisory Panel. Marchelle is the Program Analyst for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. She is the Architecture Branch Chief for the Cloud Technology and Hosting Office. Marchelle deals with one of the world's most sensitive mission-critical infrastructure, which is unique in nature and critical from the aspects of national security, integrity, availability and privacy. She is an engineer by background, with people skills bridging the communication gap between technical staff and business execs. Marchelle has solid background as an experienced systems engineer who understands complex architectures and frameworks and has lead and managed teams throughout her career. She has more than a decade experience in supporting commercial and government sectors has is fully capable of interfacing and managing such institutions.

Being a program manager for the High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) planning team, Marchelle has facilitated and coordinated the identification of a plan of action to address HA/DR within the data centers. She has solid grasp over Data Center Operations, having developed Data Center Operations Strategic Planning and Charters. She now leads the Cloud Technology and Hosting Office of the United States Courts as the Architecture Branch Chief.

Contact Marchelle at marchelle.a@idc-a.org.

Marcus Falz

Member of Technical Standards Committee

Verizon Enterprise Services

Senior Solutions Architect

Marcus Falz is a Senior Solutions Architect at Verizon Enterprise Services. He is an Information Technology Leader with over 30 years of progressive technology management experience. Marcus coaches high-performing teams of technical staff to provide quality development, integration, and support. He is a recognized expert in in Cloud infrastructure architectures, service delivery, strategic planning, and end-to-end data center architectures. Marcus has been working on distributed systems and virtualization architectures since its re-emergence as a mainstream midrange technology in the late 1990’s with direct hands-on expertise with Netware, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, as well as the Windows and VMware paradigms.

Prior to Verizon Terremark, Marcus was a part of Cisco’s Advanced Services Data Center Practice and Operations Team. He was Director of IS Support at Telepacific Communications, and served as a Vice President of IT Operations at Washington Mutual Bank. He was responsible for all Data Centers in the Southwest Region of the country. In many roles, I have led Infrastructure Shared Services, Technology Architecture, and Operations Management teams responsible for all aspects of support and service delivery.

Contact Marcus at marcus.f@idc-a.org.