The Dataracks Gold Standard is the foundation of Dataracks, Inc. It encompasses the values and philosophy by which we operate and envision the future. The Dataracks Credo is “Distinct or Extinct”, it is the rhythm in which our organization moves, what we mean by that is, we believe that either our company truly achieves distinction while we can and continue to evolve or we will be forced into extinction by the hands of history.

We realize that throughout time we will be imitated and clone attempts will be made however this fact alone allows us to even further realize that Dataracks truly needs to be a different kind of company to do business with; one that truly values the trust of the customer and understands that more times than not we are given only one opportunity to live up to our name. Starting with the CEO, Dataracks' management team embodies the strengths and qualities that ensure we deliver on our promises and live up to our name, in gold.

Benoît Brookens III
CEO, President

Benoît Brookens III founded Dataracks in 2002, when he realized that the web hosting industry was still very young and lacked a definitive direction that would support the innovation and reliability needed from the hosting industry in the comming years as the web weaves it's way deeper into society. A true entrepreneur at heart, Benoit started working away part time on Dataracks, balancing between school, investing time, energy, money and otherwise deemed priceless resources into the venture and came up with a sophisicated technologial reduncancy model for a mission-critical hosting enviornment. As CEO, several years later, Brookens focuses his time and efforts on tracking the course and moving towards the vivid vision he has for Dataracks and the hosting industry as a whole. Brookens is the heart of Dataracks, and gives the people here motivation to continue doing what they love to do as Dataracks carves out a leading position in the mission-critical business web hosting markets.

Brookens is very active in the Washington, DC, community. He continues to look out for the youth by hosting events to encourage social awareness, success and future well being through his event planning company, appropriately called, The Overachievers.™

Brookens is an alumnus from the Rochester Institute of Technology, he tripple-majored, in Information Technology, Entrepreneurship and Philosophy. In recent months, Brookens has been making quite a storm in entrepreneurial circles across the country and has been speaking at Universities and Educational Institutions on his experiences and the entrepreneurial spirit.

Matthew Gunnin
Chief Operating Officer

Matthew Gunnin is a real powerhouse at Dataracks; he joined us in 2004, and has been serving as Chief Operating Officer since fall 2006. Gunnin oversees all operations for our business organization; his extensive experience in technology and proven record of operation efficiency has given the right of way to success with our most ambitious corporate restructure undertaking, ever. The many departments that report to Gunnin include customer support, network logistics, hardware, datacenter operations, software development and provisioning. Gunnin was one of the first employees of Dataracks, and during his initial tenure, Dataracks became one of the fastest growing hosting companies of 2004. Gunnin has been a central figure in virtually all aspects of the hosting industry for the past 8 years and counting. Aside from gaining vast experience in the hosting industry from Dataracks, Gunnin has managed both the Managerial and Technical aspects of successful hosting companies, both domestically and abroad.

Gunnin is pursuing studies of Wireless Hardware Engineering, Computer Engineering, Business Administration and Computer Science; a double major and a double minor, respectively, at Auburn University.

 

Matthias Stapleton
Chief Technology Officer

Matthias Stapleton joined Dataracks in August of 2005 and currently serves as Chief Technology Officer. Stapleton has worked in several areas of Dataracks including Customer Care, Network Operations, and Research and Development. Most recently Stapleton has been involved with the ongoing development of our new Data Center, web hosting facility, in Weehawken New, Jersey. Stapleton was one of the leading forces behind our Ultra-Reliable Infrastructure for our new network in our new facilities

Prior to Dataracks, Matthias was an employee of Microsoft.

Stapleton is a graduate of the University of California-Berkley and Holds a B.S. in Computer Science.

Lewis Zimmerman
Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development

Lewis Zimmerman is instrumental in driving strategic planning, organizational strategy, information design, application development and new business initiatives for Dataracks. Lewis joined the company in September of 2005, and has served in a variety of strategy and marketing roles throughout the company's growth. Before joining Dataracks, Zimmerman founded an information intelligence firm, Intercarbon, working with many high-profile companies on critical strategic information issues and a popular design firm which worked with many of the popular short-lived “bubble” companies of the late 1990’s.

Lewis holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance with an elective concentration in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia, where he graduated on the Dean's List with Honors and a 4.15 GPA. His experience and reputation in technology is a leveraged asset and valuable part of Dataracks.

Christopher Golda
Senior Vice President of Product Management

Christopher Golda joined Dataracks from UrbanTwelve, a leading design & development studio where he served as CEO and founder for 8 years. Golda has significant experience working with early stage companies and has been active in Internet business development since 1999. He brings 10 years of product management, sales management and brand development experience in the online marketplace.

Chris is also the Founder & CEO of IPartee, an evolving Internet start-up in the event management and social-networking space.

Christopher holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Donatello Giovanella
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing