Dear 7x24 Exchange OR & SW WA Chapter Members,

Happy New Year! As we enter this new year together, we want to thank you for your continued engagement, support, and commitment to advancing the mission of our 7x24 Exchange chapter in our region.  We’re energized about the year ahead and look forward to bringing you even more opportunities for education, collaboration, and connection across the data center and mission critical community.

After filtering through many applications this year to join our board, we are also thrilled to welcome several outstanding professionals to our Chapter Board. Please join us in welcoming our new board members: Matt Pierce, Dustin Johnson, Swaminathan Vaidyanat, Elisa Ahn,  Isaac Barrow, and Jeremy Buddress.   

We are excited to have them join our leadership team and are confident they will help make our Chapter even stronger!

Looking forward to an excellent 2026 together,

Your 7x24 OR and SW WA Chapter

• Nick Triska, Business Development Manager, Greater Portland, Inc.

• Kim Barton, Project Manager, Lease Crutcher Lewis

• Secretary – Melissa Rogers, Regional Account Manager, PowerX

• Executive Director - Megan Roseborough, Strategic Account Manager, McKinstry

• Treasurer - Ross Hoefner, Business Development Manager, Southland Industries

• Vice President – Ryan Wolsey, Director of Operations, STACK Infrastructure 

• President – Aaron Seymour, Director of Project Development, McKinstry

New Board Members:

Matt Pierce:  Matt is a dedicated professional with a strong commitment to the 7x24 Exchange, particularly within the Oregon and SW WA Chapter. Drawing on his experience and flexibility in his current role at United Rentals, Matt has been an active contributor, serving as a regular attendee, meeting sponsor, and committee member for the annual golf tournament. His engagement with the local chapter, along with attending national conferences and other chapters, provides him with a broad perspective on the data center industry. Matt is focused on fostering a balanced and successful chapter that includes contributions from owners, contractors, and vendors.

Dustin Johnson:  Dustin is a highly accomplished professional with a strong background in the data center industry. His experience includes key roles at leading organizations such as Aligned Data Centers, SLS, and Fortis. Dustin is dedicated to fostering a more robust and cooperative data center ecosystem, facilitating success for owners, contractors, and utility providers alike.

Swaminathan Vaidyanat:  Swami is a dedicated advocate for data center sustainability, reliability, and innovation. He is keen to promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the industry and looks forward to bringing his technical and operational expertise to the 7x24 Exchange Oregon & SW Washington Chapter.

Elisa Ahn:  Elisa is Vice President of Mission Critical Solutions at Tetra Tech, and she is excited to align her passion for the industry with the 7x24 Exchange's mission by connecting those who design, build, operate, and maintain this essential infrastructure.   Deeply invested in the regional industry, she aims to help our chapter advance technical excellence and strengthen the local professional network through her strong involvement within the WIMCO and Portland's CREW program (Commercial Real Estate Women).   

Isaac Barrow:  Isaac is the Senior Manager for Data Centers and Growth at Portland General Electric (PGE). He leads the team connecting data centers to PGE’s grid, focusing on customer engagement, regulatory policy, and system planning. Given the rapid growth of data center load in Oregon, Isaac's team is essential in delivering reliable, sustainable energy solutions, advancing PGE’s clean energy goals, and implementing regulatory and policy updates to ensure balanced growth for all customers.

Jeremy Budress:  Jeremy is deeply rooted in the Pacific Northwest, with over 35 years in the region, a college career built at Oregon State University, and several years leading hyperscale data center development in Hillsboro. This background gives him a unique awareness of the mission-critical sector's impact on our community. Jeremy has been highly involved with our local chapter where he has played a key role in organizing the successful annual golf tournament over the past few years.

What a Day on the Course! ⛳

Huge thanks to all our incredible sponsors and golfers who made the 3rd Annual 7x24 Exchange Oregon & SW Washington Golf Tournament, presented by MacDonald Miller Facility Solutions, such a success!

On September 18, we hosted 144 golfers under warm, sunny skies for a day of great swings, strong connections, and community impact.

With your support, we were able to:

✅Donate $5,000 to Girls Build – helping empower young women with hands-on skills and confidence in the trades

✅Fund 3 full scholarships to the Data Center Technician Program – launching meaningful careers in our industry

We couldn’t have done it without every one of you—thank you for helping us drive real change while having a whole lot of fun doing it.

Looking ahead to 2026!

We’re already planning our next tournament for September 2026 at a new course—and this time, we’re expanding to two courses to accommodate even more golfers and sponsors!

Check out some of the fantastic moments from the day!

Dear Members,

I would like to take this opportunity to provide a mid-year update on the Board of Directors (BOD) activities and plans following our recent strategy session on April 3, 2025. We have an amazing chapter here in Oregon and SW Washington, and we are grateful for an active membership, and an even more amazing vendor sponsorship participation.

The BOD hosted our first in person strategy session for 2025 a few weeks ago. It was a quality session focused on strategic planning and team building. It provided an opportunity for new and returning members to reflect on what we’re doing well and identify areas where we can grow and better serve our chapter and community.

Key highlights include our strong performance in event planning, member networking, and knowledge sharing. We’re also proud of the excellent work being done by our active workgroups:

• The Membership Committee, led by Bill Cory, has kept the life blood of our organization moving ahead. Membership is at an all-time high, and we see very healthy revenue from dues. Dues are an important funding mechanism which helps fund our chapter and activities. Thanks to all our members who support us, and all registered in our chapter database.
• WIMCO (Women in Mission Critical), led by Melissa Rogers
• Young Professionals, led by Sara Turner and Jacob Sirny
• Our Chapter Executive Director, Megan Roseborough, continues to exceed expectations with her outstanding event/logistics planning

The board took an action item to do some additional strategic planning, and work on developing a longer term plan to help define the future of the chapter and focus areas that will benefit our community and membership. We will keep you posted on these future outcomes.

The golf tournament has been an incredible success, and we are planning to open up this year event at the beginning of summer 2025. As we move into the end of the year we will be working on additional activities and events, and trying to kick off, and invest more people into several identified workgroups.

Below is a list of current committees and new workgroup opportunities identified during our strategy session. We are actively seeking volunteers, and I encourage anyone interested in getting more involved to reach out — your time and expertise can make a real impact. Also, if there is something not on the list, we would welcome hearing more about those items as well.

Volunteer Opportunities

• NEW - International Data Center Day Champion - Contact Paul Vaccaro email: paul.vaccaro@jedunn.com
• • Need - Workgroup Leader
  • Need - Committee Members
• Data Center Industry Local Policy, Local Impact, Local Engagement - Lead: Paul Vaccaro email: paul.vaccaro@jedunn.com
• • Need - Workgroup Leader to backfill Paul
  • Need - Committee Members
• NEW - Events Committee - Lead: Megan Roseborough, email meganr@mckinstry.com
• • Need - Committee Members
• Scholarship Committee - Lead: Lee Moss - an incredible opportunity to give back to the community email: leem@zavtek.com
• • Need - Committee Members
• Membership - Bill Cory email: bill.cory@flexential.com
• • Need - Committee Members
• Golf - Matt Jackson email : matthew.jackson@lewisbuilds.com
• • Need - Committee Members
• Education Knowledge Sharing Committee - Megan Roseborough or Paul Vaccaro email: meganr@mckinstry.com, paul.vaccaro@jedunn.com
• • Need -Workgroup Leader
  • Need -Committee Members
• NEW - Communications/Social Media Web Master - Contact Bill Cory email: bill.cory@flexential.com
• • Need - Workgroup Leader
  • Need - Committee Members
• WiMCO - Melissa Rogers, email: melissar@zavtek.com
• • Need - Co-Chair; Committee Members
• Young Professionals - Sarah Turner and Jacob Sirny email: saraht@zavtek.com
• • Need - Committee Members
• NEW - End User Engagement Committee - Don Atwood , email: donatwood@yahoo.com
• • Need - Committee Members

Thanks to all our bundle coordinators, and individual members who took time to vote in our recent elections. We are very excited to announce the following results from recent balloting. Our board recommended ballot was overwhelmingly approved. Please join me in congratulating all our incumbent, and new board members. I also want to thank all the candidates who applied, it is a good sign of health to have an abundance of interested candidates. 

Please look forward to future Board updates on our plans for 2025, and additional volunteer opportunities following our January kickoff board meeting.

Our 2025 Board will be as follows:

Paul Vaccaro – President (Incumbent, Term ends on 12/31/25)

Aaron Seymour – Vice President (Incumbent, Term ends on 12/31/26)

TBA - Treasurer – (Term ends on 12/31/25)

Melissa Rogers - Secretary (Incumbent, Term ends on 12/31/26)

Bill Cory – Director (Incumbent, 12/31/25)

Nick Triska – Director (Incumbent, 12/31/25)

Ryan Wolsey – Director (New, 12/31/25)

Kim Barton – Director (Incumbent, 12/31/25)

Don Atwood – Director (Incumbent, 12/31/25)

Kat Murphy – Director (New, 12/31/25)

Jill Miles – Director (Incumbent, 12/31/25)

Ross Hoffner – Director (Incumbent, 12/31/25)

Matt Jackson – Director (Incumbent, 12/31/25)

Sincerely,

Paul Vaccaro

President BOD

7 x 24 Exchange International Oregon and SW Washington Chapter

Ballots	Actual	Percent
Ballots Out	91	100%
Ballots Email Opened	60	66%
Ballots Clicked	22	24%
Ballots Submitted	15	16%
Ballots Board Recommended	11	73%
Ballots Individual	4	27%

2024 Board Election

Fellow Chapter Members, I am happy to announce that the election results have been verified and posted in our official chapter minutes. With overwhelming support, members approved the board’s recommendation. I want to welcome all new board members. I want to thank Chris Wilkes, Brent Smith, and Brett Strohlein for their support over the last several years. Each of them has left a significant legacy; you have all been loyal, hardworking, and dedicated. On behalf of the board, we all wish to recognize and thank you for your contributions. As we transition to the new Board of Directors, please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything I can do to help with these transitions. Happy New Year to all, and I am very excited to get things going in 2024 and beyond.  2024 Elected Board  President – Paul Vaccaro New 2-Year Term  Vice President – Lee Moss 1 Year of Term Remaining Treasurer – Aaron Seymour New 2-Year Term  Secretary – Melissa Rogers 1 Year of Term Remaining Director – Kim Barton  Director – Zack Yakel Director – Bill Cory Director – Jill Miles Director - Nick Triska  Director – Ross Hoeffner Director – Don Atwood  Director – Matthew Jackson  Paul Vacarro President-Board of Directors 7x24 Exchange Oregon & SW Washington

If you are interested in sponsoring this event please contact Megan Roseborough at megan.roseborough@7x24exchange.org.

An audio replay is available of our February 24, 2022, panel discussion: Staffing the Digital Economy.

We want to thank our panelists Mike Berman of Amazon Web Services, Pete Hernberg of Blue Mountain Community College, and Lisa Mittlesdorf of the Port of Morrow. They, along with our moderator Brett Strohlein of Rosendin Electric, had a lively and informative conversation.

Please use the link below to hear the recording and tell us if you have suggestions for future topics.

Staffing the Digital Economy, A Panel Discussion