REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced two strategic leadership moves within the executive team. Company veteran Brian Lillie will assume the role of Chief Product Officer effective as of October 1st. In this newly created role, Lillie will lead the product management, design, development and engineering teams as part of the new Global Product organization. Lillie has served as the Chief Customer Officer of Equinix since September 2016, and served as the Global CIO for the previous eight years.

Equinix also announced Laura Ortman has been promoted to the role of Chief Customer Officer, taking over leadership of the Global Customer Success organization as Lillie steps into his Chief Product Officer role. In this role, Ortman will continue to drive the Equinix commitment to being a customer-centric organization which provides a globally consistent and reliable customer experience across the entire company. Ortman will define and implement an enterprise-wide customer experience vision to help drive customer loyalty and retention, and create a truly differentiated experience for customers.  In this role, Ortman will help ensure that customers benefit from the experience and expertise Equinix brings as these organizations realign to extract value from the shift to digital and navigate the demands of a "cloud-driven" business.

Key Facts

• In his new role as Chief Product Officer, Lillie will shift his focus from shepherding the customer journey and experience at Equinix to driving the products and services strategy and development for the company. Global products that Lillie will oversee include our colocation, interconnection and services product portfolio, including the Equinix Cloud Exchange™, IBX SmartView platform, Customer and Marketplace Portals, and the Equinix API developer platform. Lillie brings a unique skillset to the CPO role, having served as CCO for the last year, focused on understanding directly from customers and front-line employees the opportunities for Equinix to meet customer needs in an increasingly digital and cloud-centric era, and as Equinix CIO for the previous eight years, focused on delivering value by implementing global process and systems on the Equinix platform.
• Ortman joined Equinix in January 2017 as Senior Vice President of Global Customer Care and Experience. As Chief Customer Officer reporting directly to the CEO, Ortman will be responsible for leading the Equinix customer-centric strategy and will lead several teams, including Customer Success Management, Customer Project Management, Customer Care Enablement, Global Service Desk, Global Escalations, and Customer Experience. Laura is a seasoned industry veteran and joined Equinix from VMware, where she led the Global Sales and Customer Success team, the Global Customer Experience team, and was one of the Co-GMs for the Cloud Services business unit.

Quotes

• Steve Smith, President and CEO, Equinix: "Last year, we established our Global Customer Success organization to create extraordinary experiences and opportunities for our customers and enable the interconnected enterprise. We're expanding on that commitment with the creation of the CPO role. As Chief Product Officer, Brian is bringing his extensive experience, energy and leadership, as both our former CCO and CIO, to drive product synergies that enable us to implement and scale innovation at Equinix. Our new Chief Customer Officer, Laura Ortman, is an outstanding leader with more than 20 years leading customer experience and customer relationship management functions. I am confident she will build on the incredible foundation Equinix has established to holistically drive customer success."
• Brian Lillie, Chief Product Officer, Equinix: "Equinix is experiencing an amazing level of growth, and we need to accelerate our efforts on "customer-inspired innovation," especially in ideating, curating and executing our next-generation product and services strategy. We are laser-focused on delivering products and services that meet the expanding and evolving needs of our 9,500+ customers around the world. And as I step into this new role leading the next chapter of Equinix innovation in the interconnected digital economy, I am excited Laura has moved up to lead the Global Customer Success organization. She has a strong track record in cultivating customer-focused business environments, and we are thrilled with the success she has already helped the team achieve."
• Laura Ortman, Chief Customer Officer, Equinix: "As I step into the role of CCO, I'm thrilled to lead the Global Customer Success Organization and continue to drive our customer-centric strategy to create a truly differentiated experience for our customers. I look forward to leading this talented global team and instilling the voice of our customers into and across our global cross-functional teams, as we create extraordinary experiences for our customers as they drive their digital transformations. And most of all, I am excited about extending the "Magic of Equinix" culture to our customers and placing them at the center of everything we do."

About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most interconnected data centers. In 44 markets across five continents, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies. www.equinix.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX data centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix services; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/equinix-appoints-brian-lillie-chief-product-officer-and-laura-ortman-chief-customer-officer-300528830.html

SOURCE Equinix, Inc.