The Planet's Experienced Management Team
Douglas J. Erwin
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Douglas J. Erwin joined The Planet in 2006 as chairman and CEO, where he oversees the strategic vision and direction of the country's second-largest dedicated hosting provider. Prior to joining The Planet, Erwin orchestrated the startup and eventual sale of blade technology pioneer, RLX Technologies, Inc., to Hewlett-Packard.
Erwin co-founded and served for five years as chairman and CEO of PentaSafe Technologies, where he led the company's development from a start-up operation into a recognized leader in integrated security management solutions. He spearheaded PentaSafe's growth through its 2002 acquisition by NetIQ Corp. Erwin served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of BMC Software, Inc., the fifth largest software developer in the United States. During his tenure, BMC experienced tremendous growth in revenues and profitability, with its market capitalization growing from $1.5 billion to $9 billion.
Erwin began his career in sales, marketing and senior management with IBM and Nortel. He holds a degree in economics from Duke University.
Kevin Klausmeyer
Chief Financial Officer
Kevin Klausmeyer serves as chief financial officer of The Planet. He brings to this role more than 25 years of successful leadership in finance and accounting, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 1000 companies. Klausmeyer joined the company from RLX Technologies, Inc., where he served as CFO through its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard. He also served as CFO of PentaSafe Security Technologies, Inc., which was acquired by NetIQ. For more than six years, Klausmeyer served as vice president and chief accounting officer with BMC Software. During his tenure, the company experienced tremendous expansion, both through organic growth and through its broad acquisition strategies.
Klausmeyer spent 13 years in public accounting with Arthur Andersen LLP, where he worked primarily with high-growth technology companies. For seven years, he served as one of the three industry representatives on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (AICPA) Software Revenue Recognition Task Force, which interpreted and provided guidance to the software industry on the U.S authoritative revenue accounting rules. He serves on the board and chairs the audit committee of Quest Software, an enterprise software company based in Aliso Viejo, California.
Klausmeyer graduated magna cum laude from The University of Texas, where he earned a B.A. in accounting.
Joseph E. Horzepa, Esq.
General Counsel
Joseph E. Horzepa joined The Planet in 2006 and serves as its general counsel. He brings to the company a proven record of helping companies manage growth through the mergers and acquisitions process. Horzepa has extensive experience in financings, capital markets transactions, technology licensing, corporate governance and employment matters. Prior to joining The Planet, he was a founding partner with Horzepa Spiegel & Associates, a private firm specializing in corporate law. Prior experience includes service as general counsel for a number of emerging private companies in high-tech markets, including PentaSafe Security Technologies Inc., BBS Technologies Inc. and Paymetric Inc.
Horzepa graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School and earned dual B.A. degrees in history and government from Wesleyan University. He is licensed to practice law in Texas and New York.
Steve Kahan
Vice President, Marketing and Product Management
Steve Kahan serves as vice president of marketing and product management, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic marketing direction for The Planet. A twenty-year industry veteran, he has served in senior leadership positions with several organizations in the technology marketplace, and has consistently developed breakthrough strategies for companies and brands that have increased sales and enhanced shareholder value.
Prior to joining The Planet, Kahan was president and CEO of Alert Logic, a Houston-based security software company that provides on-demand IT network protection for small and mid-sized businesses. Kahan previously served as vice president of worldwide marketing for BindView Corporation, a leader in the security policy compliance market. At BindView, he led efforts to reposition the company's core compliance business, ultimately resulting in its acquisition by Symantec. He has also led marketing organizations for leading security software firms including Postini, NetIQ and PentaSafe Security Technologies. With PentaSafe, Kahan served as vice president of marketing for five years, through its acquisition by NetIQ in 2002. He was also the founding president and CEO of e-Security, Inc., helping to create the software provider category known today as Security Information Management or SIM.
He holds a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University.
Thomas S. Blair
Vice President, Global Sales
Tom Blair serves as The Planet's vice president of global sales. In this role, he holds responsibilities for the company's entire span of sales activities, including revenue generation, customer relationship management and retention, business development and sales engineering, as well as channel and alliance partnerships.
Prior to joining The Planet, Blair spent 10 years with Terremark Worldwide, Inc. and Data Return Corporation, which was acquired by Terremark in 2007. With Terremark, he served as senior vice president for Channel Sales and Strategic Alliances, executing agreements with master agents, system integrators, consultancies, value-added resellers, solution providers and independent software vendors. Blair was vice president for Channel Sales and Alliances with Data Return, where he led a team that significantly increased revenue and enabled the company to increase market share for its managed hosting business. As vice president for worldwide sales, Managed Services, also with Data Return, he was responsible for the company's sales strategy and methodology, which included the development and addition of a field-based sales organization.
Previous work includes eight years with Octel Communications, which was acquired by Lucent Technologies. There, Blair held a series of increasingly responsible roles, the last of which was national sales director for its Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) business. He also spent seven years with Xerox Corporation in sales and marketing.
Blair holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business.
William Charnock
Vice President, Technology
William Charnock joined The Planet in March 2003 and today serves as vice president of technology. In this role, he is responsible for directing the company's technology planning and investments. He previously served as vice president of network engineering with The Planet. Charnock has more than 10 years of experience in senior management with Internet services companies. Prior to joining The Planet, he was director of data network engineering with Allegiance Telecom, where he served in a number of increasingly responsible roles. Charnock was responsible for the architecture and build-out of the company's nationwide Tier-1 IP network, as well as new technology evaluation and development.
He led the network integration team responsible for merging the IBI (formerly Digex) and Allegiance IP backbone networks. Prior to his career with Allegiance, he was chief technology officer and minority owner in FastLane Communication.
Charnock attended the University of Houston.
Jeff Lowenberg
Vice President, Facilities
Jeff Lowenberg serves as vice president of facilities for The Planet. In this role, he holds responsibility for data center and facilities management. Lowenberg additionally leads the selection and construction of future data center locations, along with the company's new headquarters build-out in Houston. He also oversees the management and renovation involved with all office locations.
Lowenberg brings extensive technology and business experience, and a proven record of operations management in design, construction and maintenance of The Planet's six world-class data centers. Lowenberg joined EV1Servers in 2001, where he served as vice president of operations. He was the first employee of Everyones Internet, the parent company of EV1Servers, which ultimately became the largest privately held ISP in the United States. Lowenberg was responsible for all customer-facing departments of the company's dial-up business, including sales, customer service and technical support. Prior to joining the company, Lowenberg served as general manager of the Beeper Boutique, one of the most successful pager retailers in the country. In this role, he was responsible for operations of 18 retail locations in three states.
Lowenberg attended Texas A&M University.
Stan O. Barber
Vice President, Network Operations
Stan Barber joined The Planet in 2007 and serves as vice president of network operations. In this role, he is responsible for the company's Network Operations Center (NOC), and the company's Abuse Department, which oversees issues related to violations of The Planet's acceptable use policies. His team handles resolution of day-to-day network problems and oversees the company-wide change control process for scheduled maintenance.
Barber previously worked at Nippon Telephone & Telegraph (NTT) America, as vice president of Engineering Operations for two years. He also worked for seven years in a series of increasingly responsible management positions with Verio, a hosting provider that was subsequently purchased by NTT. During that time, Barber developed and managed its Network Operations Center (NOC). He also worked for ten years with the Baylor College of Medicine where he was a member of the team that developed one of the first network-based collaboration environments, well in advance of the World Wide Web. He has designed and implemented a number of complex networks using TCP/IP, including IPv6. Barber is a noted authority and industry speaker on linking critical technologies with company goals and objectives. In 2000, he authored RFC 2980 which pertains to common extensions used by the Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP), while serving as chairman of an IETF working group charged with updating NNTP. In 2005, he testified before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives concerning the state of IPv6 deployment worldwide.
He earned a B.A. degree in biochemistry and psychology from Rice University. Additional studies include one year of graduate work in engineering psychology.
Duke S. Skarda
Vice President, Information Technology and Software Development
Duke Skarda serves as The Planet’s vice president of information technology and software development. In this role, he holds responsibilities for the company’s entire span of IT activities, including core IT operations, and software development and implementation for customer-facing solutions. Skarda is the resident senior executive in the company’s Dallas offices.
Prior to joining The Planet, Skarda spent 10 years with Level 3 Communications in a series of increasingly responsible positions. As senior vice president for its Content Markets Group, Skarda led engineering and IT development for its content distribution network platform and IT support systems. As senior vice president for IT architecture and application development, he led a broad range of programs, including business process management, and order-entry and service assurance development. Skarda also served as vice president of IT architecture, where he led the development of a long-range systems roadmap, systems merger and acquisition planning, and the development of the company’s enterprise architecture team.
Previous work also includes four years with Sprint.
Skarda earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso.
Irene Gaddis
Director of Human Resources
Irene Gaddis joined The Planet in 2006, where she is responsible for human resources, employment and benefits management. She brings to the company more than 20 years of experience across multiple disciplines in human resources, including recruiting, training, employee relations and compliance. Prior to joining The Planet, Gaddis served as director of human resources with NetIQ, a security management software company, through its 2006 acquisition by AttachMate. She also served as director of human resource of PentaSafe Security Technologies, Inc., during its growth as a start-up operation into a recognized leader in integrated security management solutions. PentaSafe was acquired by NetIQ in 2002.
Gaddis is a Birkman-certified consultant. She has earned recognition as a senior professional in human resources (SPHR) by The Society for Human Resources Management.
A native of Scotland, Gaddis earned her bachelor's degree in business from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.