Over the past few years, as search engines, social media, and mobile devices have become tightly-interwoven into just about every personal and business interaction, our research and buying habits have drastically changed. Gatekeepers and intermediaries have become massively disrupted. For those in the data center and critical facilities industry, this means it’s easier than ever to reach out to many data center experts.

Social Media and Online Events Supplement, But Not Replace Offline Conferences

Even though social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter – and online conferencing tools like GoToWebinar and WebEx -- are now very widely utilized by IT executives and their channel partners, there’s still plenty of room for like-minded people to come together offline, learn together, network, and build vibrant communities – heck, even play some golf and enjoy a few rounds of drinks.

But conferences, trade shows, expositions, whatever you refer to them as, are nothing without people. In most cases, the primary stakeholders include attendees, speakers, and sponsors – plus journalists and analysts.

The Data Center Experts That Present to Share Their Knowledge and Build Up Their Thought Leadership Footprint

So when you attend a conference for the data center- or mission critical facilities-industry, who are some of the most widely-regarded, most sought-after industry thought leaders that you’re likely to hear speak? In other words, who are the 21 data center experts that regularly speak at conferences?

1. Douglas S. Adams -- Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Office -- RagingWire
2. Anthony Bolner -- Managing Director and Partner -- Stream Data Centers
3. John Clune – President -- Cavern Technologies
4. Chris Crosby -- Chief Executive Officer -- Compass Datacenters
5. Chris Curtis -- Senior Vice President of Development and Acquisitions -- Compass Datacenters
6. Robert DeVita -- Chief Sales Officer -- 1547 Critical Systems Realty
7. John Ford -- Vice President Sales and Leasing -- Sabey Data Center Properties
8. Billie Haggard -- Senior Vice President of Data Centers -- CoreSite Realty Corporation
9. Phillip Koblence – Chief Operating Officer -- New York Internet
10. Dave Leonard -- Chief Data Center Officer -- ViaWest
11. Drew Leonard – Vice President of Global Colocation -- CenturyLink
12. Michael Levy -- ‎Manager of Global Colocation Product Management -- CenturyLink Business
13. Raul K. Martynek -- Chief Executive Officer of Net Access
14. Craig McKesson – Executive Vice President of Colocation and Cloud Solutions -- T5 Data Centers
15. Shawn Mills – Chief Executive Officer, Founder, and President -- Green House Data
16. Ryan Oro -- ‎Vice President of General Management – CoreSite
17. Andrew Schaap -- ‎Senior Vice President of Sales -- Digital Realty
18. Eli D. Scher -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman -- Continuum Data Centers
19. John Sheputis – President -- Infomart Data Centers
20. Josh Snowhorn -- Vice President and General Manager of Interconnection – CyrusOne
21. Joel Stone -- Vice President of Global Data Center Operations -- CenturyLink

Did we overlook any of your favorite data center experts that ought to be added to this list? Let us know in the Comments below.

And if you’re an expert on data centers and colocation, and you speak at events to build up your firm’s profile and your professional thought leadership, there are a lot more bottom-line benefits that you can be getting from the content that you’re creating.

Learn how to connect the dots between your hard-earned data center expertise and leads, sales opportunities, and revenue growth when you download the free eBook on “Inbound Marketing for Colocation Data Centers.”