Sponsor Spotlight: Meet Colleen From CyrusOne

Our bags are packed for Hawaii because PTC 2019 is right around the corner! Naturally, we’re excited to escape to the warm, tropical beaches of Honolulu but what we’re even more excited for is kicking off the Pacific Telecoms Council week with our networking event this Sunday, January 20th from 5p-7p. It’s not too late to register!

Back in October, CyrusOne partnered with us to sponsor our first ever European event. Through that, we got to know CyrusOne’s Regional Marketing Director, Rebecca Wall-Morris, who is based in London and an advocate for ‘women supporting women’.

We’re thrilled to have CyrusOne’s support again for our PTC event #WTFPTC19. It’s a breath of fresh air to have sponsors on board who live and breathe the WTF mantra of supporting fellow women in the industry to help foster career growth. We are delighted to feature Colleen Sherman, a Global Account Director for Cloud at CyrusOne, in this installment of our Sponsor Spotlight series. Colleen will be joining us for Sunday’s event so be sure to say aloha!

Get to know CyrusOne’s Colleen Sherman, Global Account Director - Cloud

Is this your first time going to PTC?

I’ve attended once before. As a company, we are global, and PTC reaches all of our customers. It is an incredible conference, bringing the best of the best into one location and growing together.

What are you looking forward to most at this year’s PTC?

I am really looking forward to becoming a part of WTF and sharing ideas with other women in the field of technology.

What’s the one trait that has helped you tackle the gender divide in our industry and succeed in your career?

I believe that through constant learning in the core business you represent will allow the divide to be a non-topic. I have never felt at a disadvantage being a woman, but I also strive to be the best in understanding the industry and dynamics of evolving times to keep myself educated.

What’s one thing you wish you could teach your younger self upon entering your career?

I would have early on become more multi-faceted in all arenas supporting the IT world. Being in Infrastructure services for my whole career, I would have started early in gaining knowledge on the end-to-end process of networks, storage, and compute all the way up the stack in order to understand the full picture. I also would have found a mentor earlier on in my career. I believe this is a critical stepping stone to our growth.

How do you see WTF helping the gender gap in our industry?

It is breaking down walls between us and embraces relationships with one another that can be very powerful both professionally and personally.

What is a WTF (in the original meaning) moment you had to endure as a woman in your career and what did you learn from it?

Being in the technology business for the last 21 years, IT has predominantly been male-dominated. I was told by many that, as a young woman in this field, I wouldn’t be taken seriously. I used my youth as an advantage and worked with men who looked at me as a daughter and wanted to help. It goes back to being confident, knowing your business, and doing more than the next guy to learn.

contact Colleen

Colleen Sherman

csherman@cyrusone.com

m: 817.528.5228

#WTFPTC19

Over and out - excited to see y’all on Sunday!

-The WTF Squad

Sponsor Spotlight: Meet Rebecca from CyrusOne

We’re just over 2 weeks away from our London event on October 22nd and we’re counting down the days. If you still haven’t registered, you can RSVP here. We’re looking forward to our first European event with all of you dazzling ladies for a chance to network and get to know one another as we continue to build our community.

Since WTF is a grassroots initiative, support from our sponsors goes a long way in order to put on these events throughout the year. But it’s important to us that our sponsors believe in the WTF ethos. We are thrilled then to have CyrusOne, who has shown enthusiastic support of the WTF mission, on board as a sponsor of our London event.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Rebecca Wall-Morris, Regional Marketing Director, about her experience at CyrusOne and her thoughts on navigating the industry as a woman.

Get to know CyrusOne’s Rebecca Wall-Morris, Regional Marketing Director

What’s the one trait that has helped you tackle the gender divide in our industry and succeed in your career?

Without hesitation I would say my work ethic. I’ve spent most of my career in B2B marketing in a traditionally male-dominated real estate sector as part of an in-house marketing ‘support’ function of predominantly women.

To be taken seriously, to hold a seat at the table, and to progress within the industry, I believe women need an internal motivation to get the job done no matter what, and to ensure that their professional opinion is voiced.  

What’s one thing you wish you could teach your younger self upon entering your career?

The importance of getting and holding on to a mentor, coupled with continually pushing for industry-specific training. It is so easy to get caught up on the tactical delivery of tasks – to cancel training and ‘nice to have’ catch-ups when you have a busy and demanding job. But it’s essential to continually stick your head above the parapet and see the bigger picture. I like the simple saying, ‘a goal without a plan is just a wish’ and I try to constantly remind myself of this.

How do you see WTF helping with the gender gap in our industry?

I am relatively new to the Women’s Tech Forum, but I can immediately see that the practice of ‘women supporting women’ is at the heart of the organisation. We all know that communication is more than just words and as such the WTF’s mission to create opportunities for face-to-face contact is vital.

One of the many reasons I’m personally delighted that CyrusOne is supporting the WTF network is to support its growth across borders, and I’m extremely excited to be part of the team driving that objective.

How long have you been at CyrusOne?

I joined CyrusOne in September, following the acquisition of Zenium - a leading European hyperscale data centre provider with portfolio in the UK and Germany (Europe’s largest data center markets) - as Regional Marketing Director based in London, UK.

Who is CyrusOne?

CyrusOne is a high-growth real estate investment trust (REIT) specialising in highly reliable enterprise-class, carrier-neutral data center properties. We have a portfolio of nearly 50 data centers worldwide, providing mission-critical facilities that protect and ensure the continued operation of IT infrastructure for approximately 1,000 customers, including 201 Fortune 1,000 companies.

What is your role there?

In my role as Regional Marketing Director I’m responsible for establishing the CyrusOne brand across Europe and supporting the growth of the business within and into new territories through strategic integrated marketing and communications activities.

It’s an incredibly exciting time. The acquisition of Zenium was an important step in establishing CyrusOne’s footprint in Europe and driving expansion across the region by addressing the increasingly global needs of our customers who demand larger deployments.

By the end of 2019, we expect our European platform to provide nearly 250 megawatts of potential data center inventory - spread across four major markets - London, Dublin, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Take-up across London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris in the first half of 2018 was an impressive 87 megawatts, up 50% from the first half of 2017.

Naturally I’m thrilled to be at the helm of these ambitious growth plans and looking forward to working with our local partners to develop meaningful entry strategies for these new markets.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with many members of the CyrusOne team on the corporate integration since we announced the definitive agreement to acquire Zenium in December 2017, and something that consistently shines through is the teams palpable and genuine love for the company. Culturally CyrusOne people are without question focused and ambitious, ‘glass is half full’ people who are in it for the long haul. We work hard and play hard, and that old adage ‘blood sweat, and cheers’ is certainly true here – it’s a real team effort and we love to celebrate!

A passing message

Since joining CyrusOne almost everyone I’ve been introduced to has left the conversion with these four final words … “Welcome to the party!”

They truly mean it, and I too warmly extend them to the WTF community, and look forward to seeing everyone in London in a few weeks!

Contact Rebecca

Rebecca Wall-Morris

rwmorris@cyrusone.com

+44 (0)782 651 9389

Rebecca will be at the event on October 22nd so be sure to say hello!

-The WTF Squad