Management Team
Saeed Karim, President and CEO, Independent Storage
Saeed Karim is responsible for leading the business strategy, vision and strategic direction of Independent Storage. He brings over 20 years of experience in sales and sales management, finance, business development and operations. His background encompasses hardware and software businesses in the United States and in International markets.
In addition to being Independent Storage CEO and president, Saeed is also CEO and president of it's sister company, Radiant Data, Inc., a maker of continuous availability software for enterprise Linux environments as well as enterprise media services. Before founding Independent Storage, Saeed was president and COO of Front Porch Digital, a software company that specializes in the conversion, preservation and management of analog and digital content. Previously, Saeed worked for StorageTek, holding leadership positions in marketing, business development, sales and general management with assignments in the United States and Europe. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. degree in Economics.
Tim Clifford, Chief Operating Officer
As Chief Operating Officer, Tim is responsible for all business operations. In addition he manages the relationships with strategic partners.
Prior to joining Independent Storage, Tim was director of U.S. sales for ManagedStorage International, a provider of data storage services. His responsibility included working with technology partners such as EMC, Hitachi Data Systems and StorageTek.
A storage industry veteran, Tim spent 20 years with StorageTek in sales and sales leadership positions. During that time he managed the largest revenue-producing group in the company focusing on the telecommunications market in the U.S. His career with StorageTek began in marketing-related financial positions following a brief stint in public accounting with Coopers & Lybrand. He was graduated from Regis University with a B.S. in accounting and a minor in business.
Glenn Jacobsen, Vice President, Data Management Group
Glenn Jacobsen leads the Data Management Group which develops and delivers innovative solutions to store, manage, and protect data throughout its value-based lifecycle. The Data Management Group consulting and professional services organization incorporates the industry’s leading people, products, tools, and methodologies to help companies mitigate risk and manage their business-critical information more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Jacobsen brings over twenty years of experience in disk and tape storage optimization, protection, and management. He came to PeakData from Crosswalk, Inc, where he served as Senior Director of Marketing and Product Management. Prior to Crosswalk, Jacobsen managed global business operations for the professional services organizations at Hitachi Data Systems, Front Porch Digital Inc., and Trilliant Group. He is also the founder of Vistastor Corporation, a consulting and integration firm focused on business continuity and storage management.
Jacobsen started his career as a process engineer with IBM, and has held positions of increasing responsibility in product development, product management, marketing, and sales with industry-leading storage companies including 3M, Imation Corp., and StorageTek.
Chris Menninger, Vice President, Sales
Chris Menninger heads sales operations. He is responsible for all aspects of the sales process, including sales of Data Management Services and storage systems.
Menninger has more than 20 years of sales and sales management experience with leading technology firms such as Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Applied Research. In the past 10 years he has successfully built the businesses of several Sun channel partners. He graduated from the University of Arizona.
Michael Klatman, Vice President of Marketing
Michael is a 27-year veteran of the IT world having worked for prominent firms such as Data General and StorageTek for 20 of those years before starting his own high tech consulting business then joining Independent Storage. His background includes marketing, investor relations and corporate communications.
His extensive knowledge of marketing and innovative approaches have helped drive business growth for multiple companies in the IT space, including Radiant Data, PeakData, Creekpath Systems and Confio Software, among others. Michael was graduated from Boston University with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Public Relations.