In this Nomad Futurist podcast, Jeff Uphues, CEO of DC BLOX shares his enthusiasm for serving locally and connecting globally with Phil and Nabeel. Over the last thirty years, Uphues has been involved with all facets of the communications industry from fiber to hosted applications to data centers and networks. All his experience in finance and in communications led him to where he is today, providing a network of data centers to previously underserved areas in the Southeastern US. Uphues speaks ...
Mar 07, 2022•35 min•Season 3Ep. 5
There are certain individuals in this world who draw people and opportunities to them through some combination of attributes that include likeability, trustworthiness, community-mindedness, and an aptitude for leadership. TJ Ciccone, currently Vice President of Critical Operations for STACK Infrastructure, is one of these individuals. In this #NomadFuturist podcast, he shares with Phil and Nabeel a career trajectory that includes a five-year stint in the Navy as a nuclear engineer and ten years ...
Feb 21, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Can learning how to write and develop critical thinking skills lead to a successful career in critical infrastructure? In this #NomadFuturist podcast, we learn how data centers became the perfect space for Michael King, who combined a strong liberal arts background, an early exposure to technology and an openness to new experiences, leading him to his current position as Head of Data Center Strategy for Cloudflare. King’s father was a math and computer science teacher and an ed tech CIO in the 8...
Feb 07, 2022•40 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this first #NomadFuturist podcast of the New Year, Phil and Nabeel take some time to consider some of the big takeaways from 2021, discussing subjects that range from the ongoing effect of Covid on different industries, the impact of a transformed workplace for both employees and employers, the permanence of disruption, the Great Resignation, technology predictions, and the new Nomad Futurist Foundation. Phil speaks about how the new demand for digital acceleration across so many industries h...
Jan 09, 2022•29 min•Season 3Ep. 1
What does a nuclear power plant and a data center have in common? In this dynamic #NomadFuturist podcast, Michail (Mike) Clutter shares his origin story, his passion for data, and a millennial’s perspective on the data center industry. Clutter’s passion for technology has been a constant throughout his career. He talks about how he took an entrance exam for the US Navy on a lark and ended up doing so well that he was invited to take an additional test which he aced. “It was a math and engineerin...
Dec 20, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 24
In this lively #NomadFuturist podcast recorded at Data Center World 2021, Phil and Nabeel speak with Dennis Hahn, a cloud and data center subject matter expert and conference speaker. Hahn recounts the varied career path that led him to become Senior Analyst, Data Center Storage at OMDIA—one that encompassed mechanical, industrial and software engineering, plastics design, strategic planning, project and product management. Hahn always knew that he wanted to be an engineer and studied industrial...
Dec 06, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 23
In this lively #NomadFuturist podcast, Michael Butigian and Jim Lubratt, award winners at Data Center World 2021, share their respective career journeys in the world of critical infrastructure and HVAC, and their common passion for leaving behind a better world. Their journeys reveal some commonalities. Both men were athletes in college, Butigian playing basketball and Lubratt playing hockey. Both concluded that they were not going to be able to go pro. Butigian left college and did a four-year ...
Nov 15, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Jezzibell Gilmore is passionate about the internet as a vehicle for communication and collaboration. In this inspiring #NomadFuturist podcast, she shares an inspiring and entrepreneurial story that took her from fine arts to technology and the co-founding of PacketFabric. Gilmore hails from Beijing, China where one side of her family was deeply rooted in theater and the performing arts, and the other side was involved in academia and the sciences. As a teenager Gilmore came to the United States ...
Nov 01, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Jane Hsieh finds meaningful connections everywhere — among different groups and generations of people, as well as connections between art, fashion, industrial design, engineering, marketing, sales, and customers around the world. In this inspiring #NomadFuturist podcast, recorded at Data Center World 2021, Hsieh shares her journey to becoming Sr. Director of Sales for Aligned Data Centers and a member of the AFCOM GenNext Advisory Board — a story that reveals her great resilience, passion for ac...
Oct 18, 2021•17 min•Season 2Ep. 20
As a boy, Levy was enchanted and fascinated to see new buildings being constructed which ultimately led him to study engineering. In addition to his interest in how things “worked,” Levy was highly creative as a young person—playing guitar, painting, and drawing cartoons. He also designed packaging for toys manufactured at his parents’ toy factory as well as decorated stands for toy fairs. Levy talks about the foundational experience of accompanying his parents every December as they gave away t...
Oct 03, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 19
During his university years, Ivo A. Ivanov was a radio DJ host. Now, two decades later, he is the CEO of DE-CIX International, the world’s leading Internet Exchange. How did this happen? In this #NomadFuturist podcast Ivanov shares his fascinating journey with Phil and Nabeel. Ivanov hails from Bulgaria where he began his law studies before moving to Germany. As a student in the early 90s, he worked as a radio station anchor/moderator hosting a prime-time weekend show that gave tips about the be...
Sep 19, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 18
In this fascinating #NomadFuturist podcast, recorded at Data Center World in Orlando, Florida, Phil and Nabeel learn about the extraordinary journey of Bill Kleyman, Master of Ceremonies for the event and EVP of Digital Solutions at Switch Data Centers. This journey about technology, life, determination, and optimism starts with a small boy in the Ukraine whose first experience of tech was learning telegraphy from his older brother. “That was the first time, can you imagine me saying that as a m...
Sep 06, 2021•33 min•Season 2Ep. 17
This engaging #NomadFuturist podcast takes listeners on an exciting ride with Phill Lawson-Shanks, a fearless IT innovator whose insatiable curiosity, daring, and ability to see patterns led him to insights and accomplishments that have helped advance the world of IT and critical infrastructure—including the development of some of the earliest instances of edge and cloud computing as well as advancements in data center efficiencies. Lawson-Shanks, who found out later in life that he is dyslexic,...
Aug 22, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Tim Crawford discovered the world of computers in the 1980s through exposure to AutoCAD while designing circuit boards in high school. What else can this computer do? he wondered. He became fascinated by the art of the possible for the computer and switched to studying computer information systems which helped launch a journey that led to his becoming a strategic CIO and sought-after global advisor. Crawford started leading IT organizations at the age of twenty-one and was immediately interested...
Aug 08, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Betting on Change With a background in music and real estate and a love of flying and surfing, Avner Papouchado breaks any preconceptions one may have about data center executives. Hear this entertaining #NomadFuturist podcast to learn about his journey from music to opportunistic real estate to the world of data centers and his current role as CEO of ServerFarm. Hailing from a family of real estate developers in Israel, Papouchado came to New York in the early 90s to study and pursue his first ...
Jul 25, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Few people in this world are destined to be reborn – let alone more than once! The Nomad Futurists planned to fly out together for an AFCOM Chicago event on June 28th but found themselves immersed in a completely unexpected sequence of events. This riveting #NomadFuturist podcast is an incredible true story about tennis, cricket, community, friendship, superheroes and ultimately, hope. Hear Phil recount the events that transpired on June 26th, Nabeel’s birthday, and during the tumultuous days th...
Jul 11, 2021•18 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Being a successful serial entrepreneur requires a combination of abilities and character traits: Innate curiosity, the ability to assess risk, the ability to identify opportunities, the desire to meet customer needs and an informed fearlessness that leads to decisive action. In this #NomadFuturist interview with Anthony Wanger we get a rare window into the thought process and trajectory of a dynamic IT entrepreneur, whose career journey traversed corporate law, real estate and datacenters, to un...
Jun 20, 2021•54 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Being true to your lights can lead to a successful career. In this #NomadFuturist podcast, Phil and Nabeel interview Sagi Brody, the Chief Technology Officer for Webair, a leading Cloud and IT Infrastructure solutions provider headquartered in New York. Brody was a natural tinkerer from childhood, moving from Lego to disassembling and reassembling his first Gateway computer at the age of thirteen. “I’d open up my machine to upgrade memory or just to poke around and I’d break it! And I’d keep fry...
Jun 06, 2021•43 min•Season 2Ep. 11
How does a Music Education major end up becoming an internationally recognized leader in datacenter efficiency? In this #NomadFuturist podcast Kevin Kent takes us on an important environmental journey across the United States and around the world. Music and arts were a big part of Kent’s childhood and he studied music education in college. He soon realized he would face a life of limited financial prospects as a music teacher and so changed directions. He did a stint in banking where he became a...
May 16, 2021•59 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Why does one go from being a highly successful video game executive to becoming a catalyst for the use of technology in supporting emotional, psychological and spiritual wellbeing? In this engaging #NomadFuturist podcast, Nichol Bradford, Co-founder of TransformativeTech.org, shares her deeply personal journey. “I grew up as a little black girl in Texas in the 80’s and was interested in Star Trek, where you had a future where mankind had decided that they were all on the same team…where diversit...
May 03, 2021•51 min•Season 2Ep. 9
How does a successful CEO create value for both customers and investors? Raul Martynek, CEO of DataBank, shares his twenty-year journey and his modus operandi with Phil and Nabeel in this #NomadFuturist podcast. Martynek discusses his accidental entry into the world of Critical Infrastructure. After majoring in political science, he spent his first years out of college trying to find his way. His natural curiosity led him to learn programming languages and begin coding for various clients. This ...
Apr 19, 2021•54 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this time of digital acceleration, the digital divide is growing. Tune in to this #NomadFuturist podcast and learn how David Neeman and James Patrignelli, agents for good, are stepping up to the problem. David Neeman worked for ten years as a prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office, motivated by a desire to help people, especially young people. During his tenure he became deeply aware of the tragic dimension of so many people’s lives. As he became involved with community service programs, Nee...
Apr 05, 2021•57 min•Season 2Ep. 7
How does a financier and entrepreneur view the critical infrastructure space? In this #NomadFuturist podcast, Peter Hopper who specializes in providing advisory services and investment capital for the telecommunications and critical infrastructure industries shares his love and enthusiasm for this space. After college, Hopper did a stint trading foreign exchange before making the switch to telecom, working for his father-in-law who ran a successful cable television business. He filled various op...
Mar 22, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Tune in to this #NomadFuturist podcast to learn what it takes to run mission critical facilities at a time when the data center industry is in flux. Chris Wade is our first speaker with extensive experience working at the foundational layer of physical infrastructure. From architecture to climate-controlled technologies to nuclear power plants to data centers, Wade shares the thirty-year journey that led him to critical infrastructure leadership positions with responsibility for data center faci...
Mar 07, 2021•50 min•Season 2Ep. 5
What does it take these days to be innovative in the world of technology? Is there a “superpower” that can cut through the increasing complexity of the IT infrastructure landscape, connecting the dots between technology and business? In this generous and insightful #NomadFuturist podcast, technology industry analyst Charles Araujo shares his story and thoughts about the current state of IT and the career trajectory that led him to a position of leadership in the IT space as a thought leader, aut...
Feb 22, 2021•49 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this engaging #NomadFuturist podcast, Peter Hannaford recounts an entrepreneurial journey that spans multiple locations—England, Nigeria, France—and tracks the development of computing and the data center industry over a fifty-year period. A child of the 60’s, Hannaford grew up in London, left school early and jumped into the workplace. His first job at a bank led to an opportunity to become a computer programmer. “Commercial computing was coming into its own in the late 60s. In those days, b...
Feb 08, 2021•58 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Problem-solving, critical thinking, risk management, adaptability…In this fascinating #NomadFuturist podcast, Lee Kirby, our first guest with a military background explains with great clarity, why the skills learned in the military can lead to success in the critical infrastructure industry. A retired Colonel and technology industry leader, Kirby grew up on a farm in east Tennessee but left for broader horizons. Kirby shares how his 36-year experience in the military led to his developing Salute...
Jan 25, 2021•51 min•Season 2Ep. 2
How did the Internet come into being and for what purpose? What were the early problems that led to its development? What were the fundamental concepts that allowed it to evolve over time into what it is today, a technology that impacts every aspect of our lives? Nomad Futurist is honored to feature Dr. Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet. Cerf played a key role in leading the development of Internet and Internet-related data packet and security technologies. This is an opport...
Jan 11, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Smarak (Marc) Bhuyan was destined to follow a career in tech having come from a long line of engineers tracing back to his great grandfather in Orissa (now Odisha). In this #NomadFuturist podcast, Bhuyan shares the serendipitous journey that has led him to his current position managing AI/ML hardware deployments for Google. Bhuyan initially studied computer science but after a brief stint as a software engineer, decided to focus on the business side of IT. He followed friends and family to Silic...
Dec 28, 2020•59 min•Season 1Ep. 26
This fascinating #NomadFuturist podcast provides insights into the thinking of Yuval Bachar, a visionary technologist whose career has been driven by curiosity, a fearless engagement with current challenges and possibilities, and a relentless quest to push the barrier of existing conditions to address the needs of the future. Many companies including Juniper Networks, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and Microsoft have benefited from the strategic thinking and infrastructure technology innovations resu...
Dec 14, 2020•58 min•Season 1Ep. 25
