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Felipe Maximiano

The role of a Data Center Manager is busy and varied with many important responsibilities. Customer relationships are key, especially when you’re managing infrastructure that keeps their businesses functioning.

Meet Felipe Maximiano, one of our Data Center Managers based in Toronto since 2018 who is responsible for three Aptum data centers which includes Toronto Downtown I, Toronto Downtown II and Toronto West.

Felipe recently gave us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his world, talking us through how his role contributes to the success of the organization. We may have spoken to him during lockdown, but you will see from his story that it’s not slowing him down.

Tell me about yourself.

Felipe Maximiano, I am a Manager of Data Center infrastructure in Toronto. My job is to manage all aspects of the infrastructure of three Aptum data centers which include Toronto Downtown I, Toronto Downtown II and Toronto West. Managing the infrastructure means being responsible for all activities that take place in the electrical, mechanical, and life safety areas inside the DCs.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I joined Aptum in November 2018 and started working in this role from day 1 in the Toronto area.

What motivates you at Aptum?

The opportunity for growth and the ability to navigate challenges motivate me. Managing three different data centers, each of them with a different design and type of equipment poses a lot of technical challenges every day. These hurdles along with Aptum’s initiatives for training provide great tools for personal and professional growth.

How does your role contribute to the larger organization?

In supporting the infrastructure and “keeping the lights on” in the data centers, my role contributes to providing a reliable and resilient data center infrastructure for our customers. My role also provides management for projects such as expansion and upgrades which supports maintaining and bringing in new revenue.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

I believe to be successful in this role one would have to be: creative, analytical, and a team-player.

What is your top tip for success?

A positive attitude goes a long way.

What has been your greatest at achievement at work?

My greatest achievement is underway right now, the Tier III upgrade project ongoing at our Toronto West data center is an exciting project that I am currently working on. Hopefully when we successfully complete this project it will be a great example of success for the company and attract more customers to that data center.

Mark Bolen

Mark is based out of our Toronto, Canada office.

As Director of Service Assurance, he is responsible for ensuring overall client satisfaction.

How did you get from being a Sales Engineer to a Director of Service Assurance?

I started as a Sales Engineer in 2009 and stayed in that role for about 4 years.

An opportunity came up to take a secondment position for one year as a Product Manager with the Marketing team, working for the Cloud business. At the end of the secondment opportunity, I went back to my Sales Engineer role.

After some time, I become Manager, Customer Experience where I was responsible for leading the Service Assurance team. I held that position for about 4.5 years. It was a natural progression being promoted to the Director role given the previous experience and knowledge I had gained.

Now, I also manage the Network and Engineering teams.

What part of the journey are you most excited/engaged about?

I am very excited about how the business is moving forward and how we are transforming into something bigger and even more amazing for our customers! It’s been a great ride – I love it!

How does your role contribute to the larger organization?

From a customer support perspective, the Service Assurance team is the face of the company to our customers. Providing exceptional support and service is what we do, so our customers always get the best support for their business.

What are three words you would use to describe your team?

Flexible, dedicated, creative.

Sneha John

Sneha is based out of our Toronto, Canada office.

As Demand Generation Manager, she is responsible for developing demand generation marketing strategies.

What is your career journey at Aptum?

I first joined the company as Marketing Operations Manager in 2017 then moved to the role of Digital Marketing Manager and I’m now a Demand Generation Manager. I have been able to work in these different roles within Marketing and explore more learning opportunities progressively.

What are some of the challenges/development opportunities with your position?

One main challenge is being able to measure success in terms of business value which was not a large component in my previous roles. However, I look forward to bringing my experience and skills to succeed in this position and help drive new opportunities for the company.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

Persistence and sensibility, as well as a thorough understanding of marketing functions.

What part of the Aptum journey are you most excited/engaged about?

Interactions with people who really want to contribute and do well.

What’s your top tip for anyone wanting to progress at Aptum?

Reach out to management when new opportunities come up. Don’t hesitate!

Brenda Burton

Brenda is based out of our San Antonio, Texas office. As Manager of the Global Inside Sales Team at Aptum, her role focuses on account management, retention, and growth.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I began my career at Aptum in 2008 as a Support Specialist on the technical side with progression into a Level 1 Support Tech for Windows and Linus.

From there, I took a role as Client Relations manager with the Colocation Team and later progressed to Customer Experience Manager for the Dedicated and Managed Hosting Team.

In recent years I was promoted to strategic accounts’ Customer Experience Manager where I helped create and managed a new Account Specialist Team. I am now Manager of the Global Inside Sales Team who focus on account management, retention, and growth. Our goal is to help our customers solve any business pain points with solutions that will ease any burdens they face. It has been quite an amazing journey from support to sales!

What motivates you at Aptum?

What motivates me here at Aptum is helping our clients meet their goals. I’m also motivated by having a team that is happy and productive, getting to collaborate with wonderful colleagues and peers that care about you in and out of work and having constant opportunities to learn and grow.

How does your role contribute to the larger organization?

My role contributes to the larger organization by fostering strong relationships between our sales reps and their clients. The stronger the relationship, the more loyal the client which means when it is time for them to grow, they will grow with Aptum.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

I believe the skills needed to be successful in my role are:

• Establishing relationships with each rep and identifying their strengths
• Time management skills
• Being super organized
• Setting clear expectations with each team member
• Always having a goal in place
• Maintaining open lines of communication with the entire team
• Always celebrating the wins and expressing appreciation whenever possible

What is your top tip for success?

My top tip for success is to constantly be willing to learn new things and challenge yourself!

What has been your greatest career / work achievement?

My greatest career achievement has been the creation of the account specialist team, I was given the freedom to design, staff, train and run the team, and they were wildly successful.

Michael McPherson

Michael is based out of our Toronto, Canada office.

As Data Center Technician, he provides technical support and maintains optimal performance of the data center operations.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I started with the company in December 2011. I joined the Customer Experience team where I supported our colocation customers in the Toronto data centers.

How did you get from the Customer Experience Team to be a Data Center Technician?

There was an opening in the Data Center Team and a colleague suggested I should apply. After reviewing the job description, I felt that my technical background would be useful to the role and that my skills and experience would be a good fit.

How did Aptum help you in this journey?

From the beginning, the Data Center Team in Toronto welcomed me to their department. My previous experience on the Customer Experience Team was a great asset to the group. I also had the opportunity to take numerous training courses thanks to Aptum: Schneider Electric Data Center Certified Associate, ITIL Foundation, CPR-AED.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

Time-management, problem-solving, and teamwork are the three key skills.

What are some of the opportunities with your position?

I would say it’s possibly being able to move up the chain of the Operations and Infrastructure hierarchy. Additionally, understanding the core mechanics of our products opens up opportunities for advancement in Networking, Sales and Customer Experience.

What’s your top tip for anyone wanting to progress at Aptum?

Ask questions! Our management team is always available to discuss any issue.

Emma Gautrey

Emma is based out of our Southampton, UK office.

As Manager, Development Operations at Aptum, Emma is responsible for the team members that create and maintain software that helps run the business.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I began in 2014 at as Software Developer, after a couple of years I took on the role of Scrum Master as well. Scrum Master is a term used to describe a person who helps the team perform and meet their commitments. Recently I have become the Manager for Development Operations.

How does your role contribute to the larger organization?

I am here to support the business by helping to ensure our systems are easy to maintain and adaptable, so that we can be bring about change as quickly as possible.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

Understanding of the bigger picture is a key skill. You need awareness of the integrations between the systems, and an appreciation for the types of users and how they consume the data. But most importantly, for a manager, it is an understanding of your team. Appreciating how they work best and what you can do to support that, allows the talent they have to shine.

What motivates you at Aptum?

Seeing how much we achieve. Dealing with complex system and trying to meet the needs of all the users can be challenging but finding ways to simplify and make things more manageable is rewarding.

David Blankinship

David is based out of our Atlanta, US office. As Inside Account Manager, he is responsible for achieving sales and revenue goals by effectively managing our global customer accounts.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I first started working for Aptum in September 2017 as Office Manager and Executive Assistant for Atlanta, SAT & MIA.

Tell us about your current role and what it takes to be successful.

I live and work in Atlanta, GA and I’m part of the Small and Medium Size Business Accounts Team as an Inside Account Manager. I look after more than 190 clients and working with that many means having to maintain relationships and work on ways to see the customer grow their business. In the longer term this means Aptum grows and so it’s a win-win situation.

To be successful in this role I think you need to be determined, responsive, trustworthy, adaptive and diligent. It is important to keep an open mind and be willing to learn and assist others.

What motivates you at Aptum?

There are many opportunities to learn within a fast-paced organization and I’m always willing to learn as much as possible to able to provide the best to my clients to help them grow and develop their businesses. My mantra is to wake up every day ready for a new challenge!

I feel that when I wake up every day with the right attitude and consider how I can help the customer in their journey, that in turn that helps me add value and get a great sense of achievement for my role at Aptum.

Tell us about your life outside of Aptum and what you like to do for fun.

When I’m not working, I’m spending time with my wife Chelsea, 11-year-old twins Landon and Lola, and Lincoln who is 5 years old. Our family spends a lot of time volunteering and attending our local church.

I’m a big fitness fan and enjoy working out and being in the great outdoors.

I love to travel and in 2020 I have been to NYC, St George Island, Fl and Charleston, SC. We have trips planned for 2021 with Orlando arranged for February, Myrtle Beach in June and St George Island again in July!

It’s going to be a little different due to the Covid pandemic, so we have masks and an expectation that things might be closed down. Taking precautions will be key to making sure we are safe.

Over the past decade, what do you see as being the biggest technology invention?

I could not imagine life now without a smartphone!

Who do you admire most?

I admire a couple people in my life. Some I know personally and some that are “famous” but the one thing they all have in common is they are willing to stand for what they believe in even when there is opposition, even when no one is standing with them.

What apps do you have on your phone that you can’t live without?

Music Apps, The Bible app, YouTube, and the weather app

Cecilia Duval

Cecilia, is based out of our Southampton, UK office. As a bilingual Account Manager in the EMEA Sales Team, Cecilia manages our French customer base.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I started as a Customer Experience Manager in September 2016, on a Maternity cover contract. After my contract ended, I came back in March 2017, as a Collection Specialist. And here I am, over three years later, moving on to an Account Manager role!

What motivates you at Aptum?

Being surrounded by amazing, clever people of all lines of work. In meetings or informal chats, it’s great to hear what others have to bring to the table, and confronting points of view.

What’s been your greatest achievement at work?

The relationships I build with my customers – I believe they get us through hard times (financial hardship, company reorganisation, or downtime on our side…), and when everything’s good, I benefit from great travel advice and ideas for my reading list !

What’s your top tip for success (either career or work in general)?

Stay true to your values ! In all the companies I worked with, I’ve been given wonderful and unexpected opportunities by never compromising on my ethics.

What did you want to do when you were still at school in terms of a career?

I’ve never known what I wanted to do when I grow up ! In high school, I specialized in English and literature. Then at the university of Caen (Normandy), I studied Psychology for 5 years and did an internship in Neuropsychology. But I wasn’t happy, and didn’t feel prepared for the real work. Which is when I decided to try and fulfil my childhood dream and moved to the UK. Here I started from scratch as an au-pair !

How did you adapt to working in the UK?

I feel that the UK is full of opportunities, and I love it. A year after I arrived, I left my host family after finding a temporary job in Paperchase, but after a month I was offered a Senior, permanent position. And a year later, I was given a concession in House of Fraser, as a manager! I didn’t want to stay in retail, and changed roles or companies many times since. But I appreciate the fact that skills and experience have a greater value than the name of the school you attended.

Craig Tavares

Craig is based out of our Toronto, Canada office.

As Global Head of Cloud, he helps organizations harness the power, productivity and efficiency with a suite of cloud computing solutions and services.

What is your career journey at Aptum?

I joined in 2002 and started in network operations and field services. I have progressed through several engineering and leadership roles and recently have taken on the role as Global Head of Cloud, where I am responsible for growing our hybrid multi-cloud practice at Aptum.

How did Aptum help you in this journey?

Aptum has provided a lot of support around career path progression and leadership development. We work in an environment that is conducive to learning and where we are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. I’ve also had a lot of great mentors and teachers at Aptum.

What part of the journey are you most excited/engaged about?

I am most excited to seize the current market opportunity in Cloud and help Aptum to be known as the team technology leaders trust to enable their businesses. We have a clear vision and strategy and know how we are going to address the market. We’ve been given the tools, resources and leadership support to execute on our strategy. I love the energy, collaboration and team spirit and I am happy that I’ve always had the opportunity to work with amazing people.

How does your role contribute to the larger organization?

Firstly, I try to enable and inspire others – I think this is an important part in being a leader at Aptum, and I also champion and live our values.

Secondly, I love to develop business and technology strategies and drive major initiatives forward, while bringing people together to solve for really tough problems.

What are three words you would use to describe your team?

Tenacious, bad-ass, experts

What’s your top tip for anyone wanting to progress at Aptum?

These are the guiding principles I’ve followed in my own career at Aptum:

–  Be willing to step outside your comfort zone and take risks; don’t be afraid

–  Take the initiative and be creative in what you are doing.

–  Always try to be a leader yourself.

–  Look out for others and embrace a sense of empathy in everything you do.

Allan Crosbie

Allan is based out of our London, England office.

As Senior Manager, Global Customer Advocacy, he leads the team that supports and advocates for our customers globally.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I started with the account management team in August 2015.

How did you get from being an account manager to the senior manager of the global customer advocacy team?

I had been a salesperson for 15 years and I wanted management experience.

I spent a couple of years managing some of Aptum’s larger accounts when a lateral opportunity came up to manage the customer experience team in our EMEA market. I had a lot of customer experience through sales, so I decided to go for the role that moved me away from sales but kept me close to customers, whilst allowing me to manage and develop a team.

I did this role for 18 months when an opportunity developed for me to take on the entire customer experience team worldwide, working directly for the Chief Revenue Officer.

How did Aptum help you in this journey?

I have been through a management training process at Aptum, whilst I was on the job. I’ve also had great support from my managers. There is a great sense of community at Aptum, which meant I could build on my business relationships as I transitioned roles. Employees here are supportive and adaptable, and leaders encouraged me, so I have been surrounded by people that help me.

What part of the journey are you most excited/engaged about?

I am most excited by the opportunity to change the way we interact with our customers in a positive way and use technology to improve their experience.

Tim Basford

Tim is based out of our Southampton, England office.

As Project Manager, he handles complex and high value projects for our biggest customers, primarily in EMEA.

When and where did you start your career at Aptum?

I started in the Portsmouth Data Center in November 2012 as a Data Center Operative (DCO). I had originally interviewed for a support role but wasn’t successful. However, the hiring manager felt I was a good fit for the company, so when a role within the DC came up, they approached me to interview again.

How did Aptum help you on your journey to your current role?

Aptum helped me to get my PrInCE2 qualifications, as well as some management training. Leaders and managers here are very supportive and suggested roles and career paths based on my strengths and interests. They have always supported me in gaining experience so I could progress.

What part of the journey are you most excited/engaged about?

Moving into the Project Management Office was a massive highlight in my career as it was my first non-technical role. In addition, being asked to move into sales was incredibly exciting as I had the opportunity to use my existing skills whilst also learning a new area of our business.

What motivates you working at Aptum?

I get to work with some extraordinary people, from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, every day. We come together to work for a common goal – this is what motivates me!

What’s your top tip for anyone wanting to progress at Aptum?

Talk to other departments to find out as much as you can about what other parts of the organization do; ask questions, be curious – everyone is really friendly! Ask to shadow individuals who are in roles that interest you and be open with your manager about your future career plans.