Executive Bios
Dennis E. Singleton
Chairman
Dennis E. Singleton has served as a director since 2004. Mr. Singleton is currently the Chairman of our Board, Chair of our Compensation Committee and a member of our Audit Committee. Mr. Singleton was a founding partner of Spieker Partners, the predecessor of Spieker Properties, Inc., one of the largest owners and operators of commercial property on the west coast prior to its $7.2 billion acquisition by Equity Office Properties Trust in 2001. Mr. Singleton served as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Spieker Properties, Inc. from 1993 to 1995, Chief Investment Officer and Director from 1995 to 1997 and Vice Chairman and Director from 1998 until his retirement in 2001. During his tenure, Mr. Singleton was involved in identifying and analyzing strategic portfolio acquisition and operating opportunities and oversaw the acquisition and development of more than 20 million square feet of commercial property. From 2001 to the present, Mr. Singleton has managed personal investments in real estate. Mr. Singleton is currently a member of the board of directors and serves on the audit and compensation committees of BRE Properties, Inc., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Singleton received a Bachelor of Science degree from Lehigh University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
Michael F. Foust
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Michael F. Foust has served as our Chief Executive Officer and as a director since our inception. Mr. Foust is a founder of GI Partners and served as a managing director of GI Partners’ advisor from its inception in February 2001 until our initial public offering. During his tenure at GI Partners, Mr. Foust directed technical property acquisitions and portfolio management. Mr. Foust has over 26 years of experience in institutional real estate investments and portfolio management. Prior to the founding of GI Partners, from 1999 to 2001, he was a senior director at CB Richard Ellis Investors. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Foust was a Senior Vice President at CB Richard Ellis, where he managed regional asset services operations. During the period from 1985 to 1995, Mr. Foust held senior portfolio management and investment positions at UBS Asset Management, Karsten Realty Advisors and Trammell Crow Company. Prior to his real estate career, from 1979 to 1985, Mr. Foust participated in the origination of two related international telecommunications companies, Consortium Communications International and Progressive Systems Inc. The companies provided message switching and turn-key networks for multinational corporations. Mr. Foust received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
A. William Stein
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Investment Officer
A. William Stein joined GI Partners as a consultant in April 2004 and has served as our Chief Financial Officer, Chief Investment Officer and Secretary since July 2004. Mr. Stein has over 30 years of investment, financial and operating management experience in both large company environments and small, rapidly growing companies. Prior to joining our Company, Mr. Stein provided turnaround management advice to both public and private companies. From 2000 to 2001, Mr. Stein served as Co-Head of VentureBank@PNC and Media and Communications Finance at The PNC Financial Services Group where he was responsible for directing the delivery of PNC’s products and services to VentureBank’s high technology and emerging growth client base. Before joining PNC, Mr. Stein was President and Chief Operating Officer of TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust, or REIT, that was acquired by Starwood Financial Trust (now called iStar Financial) in late 1999. Prior to being named President of TriNet, Mr. Stein was Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. TriNet’s portfolio consisted of office, industrial and retail properties throughout the U.S. Before joining TriNet in 1995, Mr. Stein held a number of senior investment and financial management positions with Westinghouse Electric, Westinghouse Financial Services and Duquesne Light Company. Mr. Stein practiced law for eight years, specializing in financial transactions and litigation. Mr. Stein is a member of the board of directors of Wesdome Gold Mines LTD, a public company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Stein received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science degree with Distinction from the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University.
Scott E. Peterson
Chief Acquisitions Officer
Scott E. Peterson is our Chief Acquisitions Officer responsible for acquisition activities and has served in such role since November 2010. Prior to this role, Mr. Peterson served as our Senior Vice President, Acquisitions since October 2004. Mr. Peterson was a managing director of GI Partners from August 2002 until October 2004. While at GI Partners, Mr. Peterson was responsible for property acquisitions with an emphasis on technical properties. Mr. Peterson has over 24 years of real estate experience and was most recently a Senior Vice President with GIC Real Estate, the real estate investment entity for the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, from May 1994 to August 2002. Previously, Mr. Peterson was active in investments, development and asset management with LaSalle Partners, a real estate services company, and Trammell Crow Company, a real estate developer. Mr. Peterson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University.
David J. Caron
Senior Vice President of Portfolio Management
David J. Caron has served as our Senior Vice President of Portfolio Management since February 2009. Mr. Caron joined our Company in October 2004 as Vice President of portfolio management responsible for the performance of our eastern region. Mr. Caron has over 30 years of experience managing extensive portfolios of commercial properties. From 1992 until joining our Company, Mr. Caron was Vice President of Asset Management at Bank of Boston, where he specialized in the management and disposition of a national portfolio of commercial office and retail properties. Previously, Mr. Caron spent 12 years at John Hancock, where he had various roles in real estate finance for its Tucker Anthony subsidiary and in his last role he was the Vice President of Operations for John Hancock Investment Services. In that role he structured private and public real estate funds and oversaw SEC filings for the funds. Mr. Caron received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northeastern University.
Jim Smith
Chief Technology Officer
Jim Smith oversees data center development, the company's efficiency & green strategy, and power procurement & energy management. Jim and the Digital Realty team have built and delivered multiple data center projects in North America, Europe and APAC. This portfolio includes the industry's first LEED Gold certified data center and the UK’s first BREEAM certified Excellent data center. Jim has a BSc in Chemistry from Fort Lewis College and an MBA from London Business School. He was named an InfoWorld top 25 CTO of 2008.
Ellen Jacobs
Senior Vice President of Corporate Services
Ellen Jacobs is Digital Realty’s Sr. Vice President of Corporate Services, responsible for our Human Resource and Enterprise Technology functions. Prior to joining Digital Realty, Ms. Jacobs served in various Vice President of Human Resource positions at Charles Schwab, Advanced Micro Devices, and Continental Grain Company. Ms. Jacobs spent 15 years as a grain trader with Continental Grain, Central Soya and Cargill, Inc. prior to entering the Human Resource field. Ms. Jacobs received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Colorado – Boulder and an MBA from Northwestern Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Joshua A. Mills
Senior Vice President, General Counsel
Mr. Mills joined Digital Realty as General Counsel in April, 2005. Prior to joining Digital Realty, Mr. Mills was a corporate attorney with Latham & Watkins, LLP where his practice included mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and venture capital financing transactions as well as general company representation. Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, Mr. Mills served as Associate General Counsel for McAfee.com Corporation and as an associate with Shearman & Sterling, LLP. Mr. Mills received a B.A. degree from the University of Washington and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Edward F. Sham
Senior Vice President and Controller
Edward F. Sham serves as Senior Vice President & Controller for Digital Realty; he joined the company in September 2005. With more than 20 years experience, his previous positions include Vice President & Controller of Catellus Development Corporation, now part of ProLogis ; Controller of Bay Apartment REIT, now Avalon Bay; and O’Connor Realty Advisors. In addition, Mr. Sham was a practicing CPA for Ernst & Young LLP in their real estate group for seven years. Mr. Sham received a B.S. degree from San Francisco State University and is a member of AICPA and California CPA society.
Kris Kumar
Regional Head, Asia Pacific
Kris Kumar comes to Digital Realty with 28 years of experience in the IT/data center infrastructure, property and marine industries. Immediately prior to joining the Company, Mr. Kumar was the president and co-founder of a specialized consulting and project implementation business that conceptualized, business-planned and delivered facilities and move-in ready data center projects for major corporate enterprises and international telecom and IT companies across the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Kumar also served as a Marine Engineer in the Indian, British and American Merchant Navy for 10 years. As a Chief Engineer he developed his extensive experience and expertise in critical engineering systems, planning and design engineering for uptime and reliability as well as maintenance systems, processes and procedures. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Marine Engineering (Distinction) and a Postgraduate degree in Facilities Management & Finance from Sydney University.
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