The leading knowledge exchange for Data Center, IT and Mission Critical professionals.
Brian Schafer is a Principal of Highland Associates, a full-service Architectural, MEP Engineering and Commissioning firm focusing on mission critical facilities. The firm is celebrating 30 years in business and has been providing consulting, design and commissioning services for Fortune 500 Corporations, Financial Institutions, Wholesale Data Center and Co-Location service providers throughout our history. In his role as Principal he is responsible for key strategic accounts, client and project management as well as sales and marketing initiatives for the firm nationwide. He has been with Highland Associates since 2005 and has been in the mission critical industry for over 20 years.
Involvement with 7×24 Exchange
In addition to his role at Highland, Brian has been a long time member of 7×24 Exchange International and more specifically, has served as the President of the Metro New York Chapter for nearly 15 years where he and several of the current Board Members revitalized the Chapter in 2003. The Metro New York Chapter is a very robust and active Chapter with a long history in the mission critical industry. The large financial service firms and the connection to Wall Street from the internet service providers, makes the Metro New York area a key market for the mission critical industry. The area has a very solid base of expertise in the industry and is home to many leading firms including the end users, consultants, contractors and equipment vendors that are involved on a global basis.
“Having this solid base allows us to host quality educational programs and events benefiting the mission critical industry while keeping our status of a volunteer run, not-for-profit organization. One key focus of the Metro New York Chapter is our mission of education and supporting the next generation of our industry. We hold our Annual Scholarship golf outing every year in which the proceeds are used for scholarships to several area engineering and technology focused schools.”
The University Challenge Program
“Most recently, we initiated our University Challenge program. This is a contest where several local schools put together teams of engineering students to present a project related to the mission critical industry. They are given a specific criteria and the audience votes on the winning team. The winning school receives $10,000 for the engineering department, each participating school gets $1,000 and each participating student receives a $250 gift card.”
“We just completed our 4th program and to date, we have had participation from Rutgers University, Hofstra University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New York Institute of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology and Manhattan College. Our goal is to encourage the youth of the industry to get involved and present to them all the potential opportunities there are in the mission critical arena. We are very happy to say that many of the students participating have a new awareness of our world and many are now gainfully employed by our member firms.”
-Brian Schafer
