CEO & Co-Founder
Cofluence LLC

7X24 Exchange Great Lakes Region – Board Member At Large, Communications Director – 4 years
ONLIGHT Aurora – Founding Board Member – 4 years
Data Center Sellers Association Founding Board Member – 2 years
Aurora Mayoral Technology Advisory Board – 3 years
Chairman of the Board – Aurora Chamber of Commerce
Founding member of Fox Valley Networking Professionals
 
United States Navy 1987- 1992. Search and Rescue Diver – 6th Fleet during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
University of California at Berkeley.  BA English Literature
 
Bill is a Data Center Sales Executive 24 years of experience – Data Center Colocation, Cloud, Connectivity.  He is CEO and Co-Founder of Cofluence LLC, which is a global IT Advisory Company with a focus on Data Center Mission Critical Sales Strategy.  Cofluence LLC is headquartered in Chicago, with locations in San Francisco, Ashburn, New York City & Phoenix.   As Director of Sales for QTS Realty Trust, Bill was responsible for launching the Chicago data center at 2800 South Ashland, building sales, marketing and channel teams.  He had PNL responsibilities and help prelease the first phase of that project.  Prior to that, Bill was Vice President and General Manager launching Bytegrid Data Centers in Aurora, IL and Cleveland, OH.  He was responsible for all sales and marketing activity leasing 400,000 sf in Cleveland and 40,000 sf in Aurora, IL.  He was instrumental in helping 365 Main sell to Digital Realty Trust and after that transaction led a sales team responsible for selling 17 data center properties around the United States.  He also built Red Lodge Mission Critical, his training company that helps data center professionals become better leaders.  During his time at Imprint Data Center Solutions, he led a team of resellers of data center gear, where they designed and built a lot of small boutique colocations, enterprise data centers.  
 
Bill is a proud husband of 16 years and father to boy and girl twins.  He enjoys tennis, soccer, surfing and playing the drums.  He knows the Chicago data center community very well and believes the Chicago AFCOM board and chapter can make a positive influence on the local industry.

Senior Network Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory

Tom Costello has spent over 15 years in the IT support field, and has been fascinated by TCP/IP since earning the CCNA at age 18. He is a Senior Network Engineer in the public sector where he works on a wide variety of datacenter switching, campus switching and firewall projects. Tom spent 12 years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a Data Systems Technician & Data Systems Chief. He earned a BS in Computer Network Technology from Davenport University, and a MS in Administration from Central Michigan University. When not spending time in the datacenter, Tom can be found troubleshooting his overcomplicated home network at kd9cpb.com, or helping Evergreen Park American Legion Post 854’s Bingo operations with their technology needs.

Field Operations Manager
Exelon

Kevin Lynch brings over 20 years of professional experience, specializing in energy efficiency program management, large mechanical/building automation systems, and DCIM implementations. He has managed engineering program management for data center and IT infrastructure ranging from tier 1 to enterprise / mega datacenter IT infrastructure projects through the program management life cycle (PMLC) in ComEd, AEP Ohio, and Center Point Energy territories. In this role, he has saved a total of $9,000,000 in incentives and rebates for large IT customers while coordinating between customers, engineers, and utilities to reduce project ROIs by an average of 33%.

President
The International Consortium for Organizational Resilience (ICOR)

Lynnda Nelson is the President of the Board of The International Consortium for Organizational Resilience, a non-profit 501c3 education and credentialing organization in the disciplines that support resilience. As President of ICOR, Lynnda manages the day to day operations of ICOR’s education program. Lynnda is the editor, course developer, and instructor for ICOR’s business continuity courses – ISO 22301 Implementer, Assessor, and Auditor. She is also the editor for ICOR’s courses covering Critical Environments.

As a member of the US delegation to the ISO 223 Societal Security Series of Standards, Lynnda is an expert on international standards for business continuity management systems. She contributed to the development of the following standards: ISO 22301, 22313, 22317, 22318, and 22398 and currently serves on the project team writing ISO 22316 a guidance document on organizational resilience.

Lynnda also serves as a member of ISO Technical Committee 268 working on indicators for resilient cities, on the UNISDR committee on community resilience, and on the NIST committee working on community resilience.

She is a certified by ICOR as a Certified Organizational Resilience Professional (CORP) and is a member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD).

Lynnda holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University and a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois.

Information Technology Solution Specialist [CDCP]
ThermFlo

Sean Willard is a top producing New Logo, Solution Sales with 25 years of experience in both the field and management and has a proven ability in leading others to exceed objectives. Successful development of cohesive teams in the collaborative achievement of organizational goals. Quickly assess areas to streamline processes and cut preventable costs. Unique ability to conceptualize and implement innovative solutions for business needs. Extensive experience partnering with influential business leaders within successful organizations. Core Competencies:

•    Data Center Solutions
•    Sales & Sales Management
•    Sales Team Building & Sales Leader
•    Partner Sales or Channel Sales
•    Solution Development including Cloud Computing
•    Creating & Conducting Sales Training
•    Hosted solutions, Trunking & Voice Services
•    Existing base w/ a full suite of selling complex solutions
•    Infrastructure services

I enjoy building new telecommunication sales teams, as well as consulting with Enterprise sales teams, C-Level Executives that are looking for a trusted, technical advisor to lead them through solution options for exceeding business objectives and can efficiently address a range of Data Networking / Network Services / Data Products / from end-to-end solutions regarding equipment and telecommunications to targeted applications. Sales Success achieved through New Business Hunting with Heavy Cold Calling and Effective Networking between my many contacts including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Web Design and E-Commence Providers, Network and System Integrators, Value Added Resellers (VARs), Channel Partners, Master and Sub Agents, Phone System Providers and Installers, Technical Equipment Providers and Installers, Network Design Engineers, Software and Security Providers, and many other fellow Senior Sales Executives and Management Professionals from all types of different industries to help each other with Effective Networking and Lead Generation.

Global Standards and Critical Space Manager
Grainger

Damon joined Grainger in 2013 as an Infrastructure Engineer in the Data Center Engineering Department, and has since taken on the role of Global Standards and Critical Space Manager. He has acquired a BS of Electrical Engineering in 1999 from ITT. He also has a plethora IT certifications varying from network design to data center integrated systems. At Grainger Damon’s primary responsibility has been focused on the reliability, sustainability, and optimization of Grainger’s facility operations. Prior to joining Grainger, Damon has worked for Motorola, Fermi National Laboratory, Caterpillar, and Microsoft in roles spanning from product line troubleshooting and prototype design to critical infrastructure management.

Matthew O'Hare, RCDD, CDCS, LEED, AP.
Director of Design & Construction
Element Critical Data Centers

Matthew's experience in the data center environment spans over 25 years ranging from an IBEW member, technical systems designer and implementation specialist, CEO of a communications systems design company and as executive management for data center construction companies.  In his current role, Matthew oversees and manages the expansion and upgrades of the critical environment for all assets under the Element Critical portfolio.  Matthew has also been featured on many industry and round-table discussions for companies such-as Capre and BizNow.  Matthew has also served as the AFCOM Chicago Chapter Board President.

Outside work, Matthew is deeply involved with his Church SS. Cyril & Methodius in Lemont, IL.  He also serves as Assistant Scout Master and Advancement Chairperson for the local Boy Scout Troop. Matthew enjoys camping, fishing & hiking, coaching, playing sports and taking long road trips with his 3 boys, his wonderful wife.

Senior Director of Business Development
Sphaera, Inc.
    
Scott has over 20 years’ experience in the mission critical and data center industry.  His previous professional experience includes a Technical Solutions Manager with Digital Realty, a Data Center Specialist/Building Manager with Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, and a Critical Facilities Supervisor for the Microsoft Corporation.  Scott is a trusted leader and confidant who delivers all areas of complex, worldwide data center projects.  

Scott is dedicated to maintaining a reputation built on quality, service, and uncompromising ethics while driving project plans and innovative solutions across data center landscapes.  Adept at building high-performance teams that embody a keen focus on customer satisfaction, Scott has a deep understanding of data center management, cloud and content ecosystems, and networking/colocation space utilization.

Over the past 8 years, Scott has strategically built up a large network of industry connections with end users and vendors alike.  Scott is highly passionate about being involved in both national and local industry events and organizations.  As Co-Founder of “Chicago’s Scheduled Downtime,” Scott routinely hosts and facilitates industry networking events throughout the Chicagoland area.  This platform continues to be a successful forum in attracting end users.

Manager of Economic and Business Development
ComEd

Ed Sitar (pronounced “sitter”), Manager of Economic and Business Development at ComEd, is responsible for the company’s economic development functions in the areas of marketing and promotion, new customer attraction, and large business retention. Ed has been a longtime ambassador of ComEd and the important role that electricity plays in the economic development process ensuring early engagement from development partners.

Professional History
For over 20 years, Ed has managed ComEd’s efforts to attract new business to the Northern Illinois region by working closely with municipalities, regional economic development organizations, and the State of Illinois. ComEd promotes Northern Illinois as a desirable business location to growing businesses by leveraging the company’s top-performing electric reliability, Illinois’ competitive electricity market (i.e., deregulation), smart grid benefits, as well as ComEd’s extensive energy efficiency incentive programs as critical factors to success in today’s high-tech business world. Ed has a particular focus on growing the data center industry and was active in the successful passage of new incentive legislation in Illinois in 2019. ComEd and its partners together successfully created over 200,000 new jobs in Northern Illinois since 2014.

Ed has also managed ComEd’s Business Visitation and Retention program, including helping launch a new statewide outreach program known as CORE (Creating Opportunities for Retention and Expansion). CORE is a large-scale effort across the State of Illinois Department of Commerce, Intersect Illinois, Ameren, Nicor, ComEd, and numerous local and regional economic development organizations. The CORE program provides a tool to economic development organizations and municipalities to help them keep their finger on the pulse of the local economy and ensure existing businesses in Illinois remain economically viable.

Ed started with ComEd in 1994 as an analyst in the Least-Cost Planning Department. He was involved with energy efficiency program planning including program development, implementation, evaluation, and analysis.

Civic Involvement
Ed serves on numerous corporate and economic development boards, including the Illinois Economic Development Association (past chair), the Utility Economic Development Association (past president), the Cook County Economic Development Advisory Council, Choose DuPage, the Economic Development Committee of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the Downers Grove Economic Development Corporation, and the Chicago Fire Soccer Club’s Foundation Board of Directors.

Education
Ed holds a bachelor degree in Urban Planning and Development and a bachelor of science in Environmental Design, with a minor in Energy and Mineral Resources from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Family
Originally from Michigan, Ed resides in the City of Chicago with his wife, son, and daughter.

Vice President and Director of Field Operations
Executive Construction
    
Rob’s responsibilities as Vice President and Director of Field Operations are oversight of Executive Construction’s field operations and leadership on safety and field training. Day-to-day he supports field team members’ logistics planning, and schedule and quality controls. In addition to Rob’s role as Director of Field Operations—where he has integrated technology to improve communication, efficiency, and quality—he leads mission critical projects and has helped expand market reach nationally.