With a role that requires working closely with so many others across time zones, markets, assets, and the stakeholder spectrum, how do you make time to accommodate your own needs?
I’m at a wonderful point in life where my children are grown, and that affords me a better ability to blend my work and personal life. I have the good fortune of still working with my co-founder and good friend, and our extended families have come to know each other. The EdgeConneX team really values family time, so we actually get to do things both socially and in work. I also have a superpower: I can sleep on planes (which is absolutely critical in this job).
Beyond and around family time, I love to ski and hike. Wine is another big passion of mine, too.
How has your ongoing collaboration and working relationship with Jan helped to achieve the race to scale on an ongoing basis as this partnership has come together?
We treat each other as peers, as equals. We each bring various skills and capabilities, and Jan is both a great guy and a great deal guy. He has some really interesting thoughts on merger and acquisition targets and positioning different types of deals and deal structures, and that’s incredibly powerful when it comes to managing risk and expanding our reach in key markets and regions. No one travels more than Jan, either—he really puts in the legwork, literally and metaphorically. I probably traveled over 250,000 miles this year alone, but Jan exceeded that.
