We're Taking a Break! GreenQloud Hires New CMO Paula Gould
GreenQloud, the first TrulyGreen® public compute cloud and data storage service, today announced several organizational changes including the appointment of Bala Kamallakharan to Chief Executive Officer, replacing Founder and former CEO, Eirikur Hrafnsson, who will transition into the role of Chief Global Strategist. Gisli Kristjansson will assume the role of Chief Financial Operating Officer. GreenQloud also announced a new hire, Paula Gould, who will serve as Chief Marketing Officer.
GreenQloud is tackling the growing “dirty data” problem in IT and data storage globally by offering carbon neutral cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions powered exclusively by renewable energy sources. GreenQloud, with their primary data center facility at Verne Global, is capitalizing on Iceland’s key geographic position, unique infrastructure of abundant renewable power and naturally cool climate to provide clean cloud solutions with world class customer support at competitive price points. For example, GreenQloud is compatible with the Amazon EC2 and S3 Web Services.
“I chose Bala for the CEO position and Paula for the CMO position because I truly believe that their respective backgrounds in diverse markets worldwide and demonstrated success in guiding startups will be instrumental in GreenQloud’s ability to reach its potential on a global scale,” said GreenQloud Founder and CGS, Eirikur Hrafnsson.
The new executive hires and restructure position GreenQloud for greater growth within the Iceland IT industry as well as the global IT market. “Experienced in investments, global business and with a depth of history in technology and management consulting, Bala Kamallakharan brings to GreenQloud the leadership necessary to meet our objectives as we enter the next stage in the company’s development,” said Chairman of the Board, Gudmundur Ingi Jonsson.
“As more data is stored and processed online, the Information Technology industry is quickly contributing to global carbon emissions, which McKinsey & Company recently estimated will increase to 4% by 2020. GreenQloud is augmenting cloud-based service efficiency with sustainability. GreenQloud believes that world class cloud-based, easy-to-use services can be delivered at competitive prices while simultaneously reducing a company’s overall carbon footprint. I believe the solutions and team we have assembled for GreenQloud is well positioned to disrupt the cloud-based services business, and I am really excited to be part of this journey,” says GreenQloud CEO, Bala Kamallakharan.
In addition to providing energy and cost effective cloud solutions to SMBs, GreenQloud provides customers with live energy metrics and carbon savings reports to incorporate into their own sustainability programs.
By working with academic, scientific communities and university networks, GreenQloud is developing means to deliver less expensive and deeply integrated high performance computing (HPC) cloud services.
About GreenQloud
GreenQloud offers carbon neutral TrulyGreen® cloud computing virtual servers and data storage (IaaS) that companies or individuals can lease at highly competitive prices. GreenQloud services such as ComputeQloud™ and StorageQloud™ feature an easy-to-use, self-service web console and advanced API controls for full automation of IT services.
GreenQloud was founded in 2010 and is privately funded by Icelandic investors. The company has won several Icelandic government grants such as the technology grant from Rannis (The Icelandic Centre for Research). Verne Global is the primary data center facility for GreenQloud. In 2011, Gartner chose GreenQloud as a Cool Vendor in Green IT and Sustainability. For more information, please visit GreenQloud.com.
http://greenqloud.com/greenqloud-appoints-new-ceo-bala-kamallakharan-and-hires-new-chief-marketing-officer-paula-gould/
Global Startup Community Converges at First Ever Startup Iceland Conference
Startup Iceland Brings Together Entrepreneurs, Investors and Dignitaries
From Around the World To Foster Creation of Sustainable Startup Ecosystems
Reykjavik, Iceland (Monday, May 14, 2012)-- The first ever Startup Iceland Conference will launch May 30, 2012 at the Andrews Theater in the Ásbrú Enterprise Park (Keflavik), Iceland. The international event will bring together entrepreneurs, investors and dignitaries from some of the world’s hottest startup communities. Iceland has a vibrant startup culture positioned to become an influential contender in the global business market. The Startup Iceland conference endeavors to strengthen Iceland’s global influence and create a confluence of global entrepreneurship and business innovation to foster sustainable start-up ecosystems worldwide.
Participants in Startup Iceland will represent startup communities from Iceland, the US, Canada, Europe, the UK, Asia, Scandinavia, South Africa just to name a few. His Excellency, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, The President of Iceland, will open the conference with a keynote address. Topics to be discussed at the one-day event include Iceland’s entrepreneurial successes and challenges, how to create localized dealmakers to activate successful regional entrepreneurism, the significance of seed funding and determining the best financial opportunities, Boulder Colorado’s transition from college town to Startup Tech hub, New York’s claim on Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial reign, innovations in energy efficiency and utilizing renewable resources, the new ‘Entrepreneurial Renaissance’ and leveraging social entrepreneurs to propel brands.
“Iceland is a fantastic place to launch a startup let alone a conference to bring the global startup community together. It has excellent infrastructure, a history of innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as a young, well-educated workforce. Iceland is small, which allows for faster pivots and enables validation of Minimum Viable Products— unique traits that we intend to use as a case study for other communities during our first ever Startup Iceland Conference,” said Founder of Startup Iceland and Investor, Bala Kamallakharan.
In addition to the events on May 30th, Startup Iceland participants will have an opportunity to partake in a Hackathon competition on May 29th hosted at Reykjavik University, a caravan symposium with leading startup influencers, team-building adventure excursions and networking receptions.
Startup Iceland speakers include:
Brad Burnham, Founder, Union Square Ventures
Brad Feld, Managing Partner, Foundry Group
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, His Excellency, The President of Iceland
Gunnar Hólmsteinn, CEO, CLARA
Eirikur Hrafnsson, CEO, GreenQloud
Rebeca Hwang, CEO, younoodle.com
Hilmar B. Janusson, EVP of R&D, Ossur
Hilmir Ingi Jonsson, CEO, Remake Electric
Rebecca Kantar, Founder & CEO, BrightCo.
Isaac Kato, CFO, Verne Global
Alison MacNeil, CEO, GogoYoko
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO, CCP
Sarah Prevette, Founder & CEO, Sprouter.com and BetaKit
Rakel Sölvadóttir, Founder, Skema
Helga Valfells, MD, NSA, the New Venture Fund of Iceland
Matt Wilson, Co-founder, Under30CEO
Ted Zoller, Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow
Startup Iceland is made possible in part by our sponsors Arion Banki, Auromatrix, Auro Investment Partners, Ásbrú Enterprise Park, Icelandair, Innovit, Kosmos and Kaos, GRE, US Embassy in Reykjavik, NSA, Reykjavik University and more.
About Startup Iceland
The Startup Iceland conference is an annual conference in Iceland where leaders in the global startup community converge to foster solutions for sustainable start-up ecosystems worldwide. Investor Bala Kamallakharan founded Startup Iceland in 2012 to showcase the vibrant entrepreneurial community in Iceland and encourage the development of an influential global startup network. For more information, please visit StartupIceland.com.