AFCOM Advisory Board

Biography

Andrea Korte Jones leads the Diode Ventures digital origination efforts. Andrea has been working in the architecture, engineering, construction, and real estate industry for 18 years. Andrea is the President of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of AFCOM, Board Member of the Kansas City Tech Council and WiMCO (Women in Mission Critical Operations), and an active member of 7x24 Exchange and SunPartners.

Prior to joining Diode, she was the Mission Critical Client Solutions Lead for JE Dunn Construction. She was critical in the development of national data center partnerships, and she oversaw the mission critical market relationships with individuals across the country both from an internal and external perspective. Andrea has a Bachelor of Art in Communication Studies from the University of Kansas.

Biography

Jamie Fogal, a Senior Technology Architect at Ascension Technologies, has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry with a focus on critical infrastructure. In his current role, he helps develop the strategic direction for Ascension’s fleet of data centers and mission critical facilities.

Fogal holds certifications in project management, data center design, and data center management. He’s also a DOE data center energy practitioner. Prior to joining Ascension Technologies, he led teams in the data center colocation space as well as enterprise data center fleets, working for companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Quicken Loans, and CareTech Solutions.

Biography

Janna Luther Connor has over 25 years of experience within the Facilities Management realm, with specialties in project management, space and move management, tenant management, and data center management. Janna’s career started out within the design/construction/architecture fields with a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University.

She currently manages the structured cabling and building operations projects within the 277,000 sq. ft. corporate data center at HCSC / BlueCross BlueShield of Texas. Janna has been active in the USGBC Board, IFMA, BICSI, Texas Tech University Advisory Board, and the AFCOM – Dallas/Fort Worth Board.

Biography

Kevin Kent, Founder & CEO of Critical Facilities Efficiency Solutions continues to be recognized throughout the United States and internationally as a leader in data center optimization, sustainability, and energy efficiency. He has an affiliation with several United States environmental foundations and is a Climate Reality Leader.

For his commitment to improve global data center energy efficiency, decrease carbon footprints, and protect our environment both nationally and internationally, Kevin was selected to serve on the international Data Center Institute Board of Directors, where he continues his focus on improving data center energy efficiency.

Biography

Biography

Thom Jackson is a data center design engineer with over 20 years of experience designing data centers of all sizes and redundancy levels.

Employed at Dunham Associates, he works to coordinate the needs of the IT and facility teams to help develop project requirements for data centers of all sizes. Thom is responsible for the comparison and selection of mechanical systems to provide scalable solutions for the life of the data center. Thom has been through the Uptime Institute’s Tier Level approval process several times including the highest Tier IV certification. Thom is dedicated to sustainable design as a LEED Accredited Professional and a DOE Data Center Energy Practitioner and has performed multiple data center energy efficiency studies to reduce data center energy usage for clients across the country.