Leadership Team

Susan Bowen

President and Chief Executive Officer

With over 20 years’ experience in the technology industry, Susan understands the importance of transformational leadership to stay at the forefront of customer needs and expectations.

Throughout her career, Susan has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor and leading voice in the technology industry. Creating partnerships around technology helps businesses adapt to change, spur innovation, and create value. She would say, “That’s when things truly happen”.

While her passion for technology has helped guide her, Susan’s strong focus on sustaining revenue growth and driving operational efficiency has helped create an organization devoted to enabling its customers run their businesses.

Spurred on by her experience as one of the only women in her Computer Science classes in the early 90’s, Susan is a passionate advocate for the advancement of diversity and inclusion. During her time in the UK, Susan was a Founder & Chair of the Skills and Diversity Council for techUK, a founding Director for The Tech Talent Charter, and in 2017 was named among the top 50 Most Influential Women in UK IT by Computer Weekly magazine.

Prior to taking on global leadership at Aptum (formerly Cogeco Peer 1), Susan was Vice President and General Manager of Cogeco Peer 1, EMEA, where she spearheaded strategic direction. Susan has also held the role of Chief of Staff UK & Ireland at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) following her tenure of over 16 years at HP UK Ltd.

Susan has a post-graduate certificate in Education from the University of Greenwich, a Masters certificate in Project Management from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Science, Business Information Systems from the University of Portsmouth. Susan is also a Board member and Non-Executive Director for Versarien PLC and a Non-Executive Director and Trustee for JISC.

Shenif Visram

Chief Financial Officer

Shenif believes information is the new currency of the business world. As Chief Financial Officer of Aptum, he is responsible for financial reporting and planning, decision support and financial operations. Overseeing financial operations means Shenif knows how fast things change in the IT world. It’s why he and his team are always looking forward.

These responsibilities mean Shenif is acutely attuned to the realities of technology, and he believes protecting customer’s valuable information is the mission Aptum prepares for every day. Making business decisions backed by forward-looking intelligence means Aptum can focus its operations and growth to effectively match customer needs.

Before joining Aptum, Shenif held many positions at IBM Canada including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer in Global Business Services and CFO of Global Technology Services.

He has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration and Finance from York University’s Schulich School of Business and is a CPA, CMA.

Sanjay Sachdev

President and Head of Fiber

Sanjay leads our Fiber business unit and is responsible for delivering next-generation connectivity to Aptum’s enterprise and wholesale customers. He oversees a network that will enable the future proliferation of 5G as Canada’s first and only neutral-host provider of vertical real estate and fiber connectivity.

Sanjay has almost twenty years of experience in telecom and enterprise connectivity, in a variety of technical, operational and market leadership roles, as well as 6 years experience across IBM, as a Global Deal Maker, and PwC, as a Partner in Technology, Media & Telecom Advisory. Sanjay was most recently Vice President of Ontario Sales for Bell Business Markets.

Sanjay has an Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Software Engineering from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University, and a Master Deal Maker Certificate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Leighton Plumley

Chief Revenue Officer
(Data Center Business Unit)

Leigh oversees the creation of new revenue opportunities and growing sales of Aptum’s Data Center and Managed Services business unit globally. He’s responsible for helping our customers leverage multi-cloud managed services, allowing them to build robust hybrid cloud infrastructure platforms that maximize the value from their data.

With more than 20 years of experience in developing sales organizations, Leigh is an expert at generating profitable revenue growth in the IT and Managed Services industries. He has worked for companies such as Sungard Availability Services, Ricoh, Wolseley and Pitney Bowes.

He has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Brock University, a Marketing Diploma from Sheridan College, and Certificate’s in Marketing and Sales Management from the Schulich School of Business and Smith School of Business.

Jeremy Pease

Chief Operating Officer
 

As COO, Jeremy is responsible for global operational functions, leading product and technology innovation, and facilitating business planning functions to help secure an effective strategy to grow the company. Under his leadership, Jeremy drives inventive product solutions to expand business capabilities that will empower customers to achieve optimal growth outcomes.

Jeremy has 20 years of experience in the IT industry, leading both development and infrastructure teams and specializing directly in cloud hosting.

Prior to joining Aptum, Jeremy was COO at Contegix, a cloud hosting company focused on specialized application hosting. In that role, he helped build the company’s first product catalogue and create its Partner Network.

Jeremy isn’t afraid to dive deep into technology to help the team. While leading the merger of five different teams, he drove the creation of a specialized dev-ops tool to support the different development languages used by the groups.

He also spent time with Hosting.com, a cloud hosting company focused on SMB. During his time as Vice President of Managed Services, he demonstrated his attention to the customer with initiatives focused on product delivery, operational consistency and premium customer support.

Jeremy attended the University of Phoenix where he obtained an Associate of Arts in Business.

Cindy Jordan-Ford

Executive Vice President, Global Strategic Accounts & Alliances

Cindy sets the strategy and tactics for Aptum’s global strategic accounts, responsible for sales and operations as well as driving revenue growth. Cindy is committed to building a company culture that embraces innovation and cooperation, allowing us to deliver an exceptional customer experience. Cindy also leads Aptum’s relationships with key alliances that enhance the go-to-market strategy for the company.

Focusing on excellence is the key to success, Cindy believes, and she’s not afraid to embrace risk if she sees an opportunity for improvement.

Cindy is a communications technology and IT industry expert with more than 25 years of experience in IT sales and service leadership. She has worked with organizations such as Xerox, Sprint, AT&T, SAVVIS (CenturyLink) and Virtustream (Dell), driving new levels of innovation and performance, strengthening regional collaboration and improving customer experiences.

Cindy is a board member of Tech Alpharetta and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the National Louis University in Chicago.

Scott Davis

Interim Chief Infrastructure Officer

As interim CIO, Scott is responsible for all global data center operations, network operations and service desk for the Data Center business unit, and service assurance, delivery and fulfillment for the Fiber business unit. Scott leads the development and maintenance of the technology infrastructure that aligns with Aptum’s broader goals to become a leader in the industry. He is responsible for driving a clear information technology delivery strategy consistent with the corporate vision and plan for an exceptional experience to all our customers globally.

Known as an excellent problem solver with a high emotional quotient and strong interpersonal skills, Scott is a transformational leader with experience igniting passion and leveraging the efforts of a range of individual talents. Under his leadership, Scott looks to ensure we deliver an IT service organization that is focused on creating the best customer experience and achieving the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Scott has over 30 years of experience working at companies such as AT&T, LexisNexis, TMP Worldwide and Sykes Enterprises. Scott lives in Atlanta with his family and has a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia.

Michelle Emanuel

Global Head of People and Engagement

As Global Head of People and Engagement, Michelle is responsible for People Relations; HR Operations, Talent Acquisition and Development. She’s committed to continually improving our company and processes that allow us to attract and retain top talent who share our company’s client-focused vision.

Michelle has focused on bridging the gap between business and people processes though progressive leadership and expertise in organizational transformation. “We all own and are accountable for our individual success and the impacts we have on our organization. We must continually strive to raise the bar on our internal and external client experience.”

Michelle’s success is derived from more than twenty years leading people and business centers of excellence across the HR disciplines following a foundation of strong business acumen that was developed over ten years as a Financial Accountant.

Michelle has held global leadership roles at L3 Wescam, The Gap Corporation, Constellation Brands, and Armtec.

Ross Woodham

General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer

Ross is a member of Aptum’s leadership team, advising on all legal and regulatory matters, managing the commercial legal functions of the business, and maintaining the corporate governance processes. Additionally, he leads Aptum’s Business Assurance functions which drive continuous improvement in information security and privacy standards, monitors strategic risk, and ensure the business maintains industry and regulatory controls and certifications.

Ross has 14 years’ experience working in the legal technology sector and is a regular public speaker on major changes in privacy laws and how they impact the hosting industry. This deep operational knowledge of the industry, and how regulation impacts the business and its clients, provides invaluable insight into developing the necessary internal standards and practices to ensure our services meet the demanding requirements of our clients.

Prior to joining Aptum, Ross worked with the law firm Shoosmiths in the UK on their technology and commercial teams. Ross graduated from the University of Exeter where he obtained a LLB in Law.

Paul Rowden

Vice President Sales and General Manager EMEA

Paul is an experienced and energetic business leader with a long career in IT services managing both large and small teams across infrastructure services, applications and business process. He is responsible for the strategic direction of Aptum in the EMEA region.

Bringing a truly global approach to his role, Paul is passionate about building long-term relationships with customers and helping them achieve their business objectives. Paul believes a consultative approach is the best way to understand the unique needs of every customer and deliver real value.

Over his career, Paul has led managed services divisions, touching on numerous vertical industries including manufacturing, financial services, retail, energy, and public sector.

Previously, Paul worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he spent 25+ years in various leadership roles, including Industry Director for Telco, Media, SAAS/ISV & Professional Services and Director of Managed Services business. Prior to joining Aptum, Paul led a team of Account Directors at Capita IT Services in the UK.