In this blog I look beyond the obvious and try to find out why people and companies do what they do - and what it means for the rest of us. 
After years of seeking the right combination of intelligence, wit, stamina, and ego, we gave up. I’m kidding. I’m thrilled to welcome Steve O’Donnell, of www.thehotaisle.com fame, to the ESG team. Steve is a rock star IT god who I met years ago and have always been impressed with. He has that rare combination of legitimate knowledge and the ability to speak his mind in an engaging fashion. He is enormously talented and outrageously opinionated – both great traits in this business. Whether due to a moment of weakness or a fit of insanity, Steve has agreed to come aboard here and help spread the good word. I’ll let him speak for himself as to why, but we’re all going to be better off for having him on this side of the microphone. In short – he is a giant IT operational mucky muck who had budgets bigger than many GDP’s and has the scars to prove it – and the wisdom of experience that will prove invaluable to many. At BT he alone was responsible for using .7% of all the electricity generated in the U.K. And that was just for his electric razor….
Steve is superbly talented and will be a tremendous addition to our already stellar team. He’ll be covering global issues such as IT Op’s, data center power and cooling issues and technologies, ITIL/ITSM and European related market issues. Welcome Steve!
ESG Adds Prominent European Managing Director
Senior IT Executive & Entrepreneur Steve O’Donnell joins growing ESG team in Europe
Milford, MA –- April 22, 2009 – Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a market-leading information technology research, analysis, and strategy firm, today announced the addition of Steve O’Donnell as Managing Director for ESG’s European operations. Steve will lead the growth of ESG in Europe as well as the global IT operations practice for the company.
O’Donnell is a internationally recognized leader in Data Center Operations with 30 years of hands on experience running some of the largest IT organizations in the world. His enormously popular blog – “The Hot Aisle” (http://www.thehotaisle.com) is widely recognized by IT professionals as the “go to” resource for information on how to run a proper IT organization.
Most recently O’Donnell ran IT Internationally for First Data, the largest global credit, debit, gift and prepay card processing company in the world. Prior to this he was Global Head of Data Centres at British Telecom (BT) running the largest data centre and IT Operation in Europe. O’Donnell has a worldwide reputation as a thought leader in Green IT having won six industry awards for his 21st Century Data Centre vision and design. He has also held senior positions at Cable & Wireless, Lehman Brothers, and Deutsche Bank, and has successfully built a number of IT consulting firms. He is a professional member of the IEEE, the IET, and the British Computer Society.
“Having known Steve for several years, we could not be happier to have a person of his caliber join our team. He adds a fantastic dimension and a real-world IT operational perspective – with the scars to prove it.” said Steve Duplessie, ESG’s Founder and CEO.
“Years ago I was introduced to ESG by several colleagues and found myself relying on their analysis and opinion to help clarify my decision making processes’, says O’Donnell, ‘On several occasions I became engaged directly with their team. They welcomed the chance to have a real exchange of ideas, and that’s when I became a fan. Now I look forward to being able to help others learn from my IT experiences and the experiences of the brilliant people at ESG.”
O’Donnell will be based in London and will be responsible for building the team to deliver ESG’s services throughout the European theater. Further, O’Donnell will lead ESG’s IT Operations practice globally.
ESG Europe headquarters are located at One Alfred Place, London, England WC1E 7EB
Contact Information:
Steve O’Donnell
Int: + 44 20 8133 9106
U.S. 508-381-5190
Twitter: @stephenodonnell
Blog: www.thehotaisle.com
Related posts:
- Notes from Europe
- Trip Report: Observations and Activities and Swine Flu in Europe
- Grow Up! The New World Of Managing IT Stuff
- On The Way To SNW Europe
- Mr. O’Donnell in a Burka
Tags: BT, ESG, First Data, hot aisle, O'Donnell
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