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Cologix’s Board of Directors appointed Laura Ortman as its new Chief Executive Officer on October 12, 2022, as a part of its succession planning efforts.
Ortman has served as Cologix’s Co-President and Chief Revenue Officer since 2018. She succeeds Bill Fathers, who will remain as Chairman of Cologix’s Board of Directors and a Senior Operating Partner at Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets, and the controlling shareholder in Cologix.
Ortman sat down with Jaymie Scotto Cutaia of JSA TV and JSA Podcasts to discuss her experience, plans for Cologix and what it means to be named the company’s first female CEO.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background at Cologix?
A: It’s an exciting time for Cologix, and I’m thrilled for the opportunity to be CEO and to lead this amazing company and our incredible team. I have a longstanding background in the technology industry. With 25 years of global experience, I’ve held executive leadership positions with Equinix and VMware before joining Cologix in August of 2018 as Co-President and Chief Revenue Officer. In that role, I drove Cologix’s sales and revenue strategy while creating a customer-centric, company culture focused on strong team execution and winning together.
My responsibilities expanded to include leading the company’s strategy and roadmap for product, technology and IT strategies. During this time, Cologix delivered double-digit revenue growth. When I joined Cologix, the company had tremendous market and growth opportunities. It also meant for me to have an opportunity to work again with Bill Fathers and Cologix’s Co-President and Chief Operating Officer Dawn Smith. Additionally, with the strong partnership of our private equity Firm, Stonepeak Infrastructure, I knew we would be successful.
Q: You are the first female CEO of Cologix. I know you’re fostering gender diversity head-on at Cologix. Can you tell us wat you are doing to close the gender gap at Cologix and in the technology industry?
A: As part of Cologix’s ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) initiatives, we are continuously working on creating a diverse and inclusive environment. Currently, Cologix has more than 50 percent female representation on its leadership team. I also spearheaded the company’s first employee resource group, Cologix Women’s Connection Network, where we have over 90 percent participation. Last year, we formalized our DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiative programming to help drive our diversity programs forward.
I’ve been an advocate for women working in technology. I believe it is important to mentor and encourage more women to have careers in technology as well as the data center industry. I am mentoring several women college students and I also volunteer and serve on multiple higher education boards. I am on the Advisory Board for the University of Colorado Boulder – Leeds School of Business, and on the Alumni Board and College of Business Dean’s Advisory Board for the University of Alabama. I also want to set an example for my two daughters and girls who aspire to get into the technology field or business and leadership positions. They essentially can accomplish anything they aspire to in the future.
Q: Cologix has experienced a monumental year, with a $3 billion recap, not to mention your continued growth and expanding partnerships in the data center marketplace. Can you provide us with a sneak peek of what’s ahead for Cologix in the coming year?
A: Cologix’s future is very bright with massive growth opportunities. We will continue to meet the demands of our customers by investing in and expanding our Scalelogix hyperscale edge and digital edge data center portfolios. Due to our successful recapitalization and debt refinancing efforts, we are well-positioned to accelerate our growth plans. We also are focused on executing all aspects of Cologix’s ESG roadmap, including transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.
The “Together We Win” culture at Cologix is the foundation of the company. We will continue to ensure our customers, partners and employees are winning together. We will continue to learn as a team and win as a team.
