My LinkedIn posts are 100% organic and AI-free. I write because I like to.The career stuff: 14 years in project leadership roles, 10 years in technical program management and 3 years managing people. I solve complex challenges up, down, and across the org by specializing in infrastructure, platforms, and people.

Matt McDannel

Studio Compute

Created Studio Compute to bridge the gap between the demand for and real-world delivery of AI compute. We provide critical expertise to connect buyers with the right technology solutions.

Founder

STAAJ Health

- Driving team to establish the voice and vision of the STAAJ Health platform and brand

- Developing organic email, social and referral marketing campaign for the STAAJ Health pilot program

- Working with the CEOs of multiple partner companies to align resources and goals

- Managing team to produce original video marketing content

- Outbound messaging and automation

Co-Founder, Brand Architect

STAAJ Solutions

- Developing original marketing programs to establish clear brand identity and social media strategy aligned with business development and revenue goals

- Encapsulating executive voice and vision of CEOs and founders to establish brand identity and develop repeatable brand messaging

- Driving outbound lead generation and consumer engagement through strategic marketing campaigns

- Leading copy and content creation for marketing campaigns including articles, one-sheets, social media posts, and infographics

- Developing and driving a multi-approach email, social and digital marketing program to broaden brand awareness in a clear market segment and lead engagement and nurturing

- Coaching executive leaders and greater teams to reach operational clarity around brand and product messaging, product-market fit, and business communications

- Researching and capitalizing on market behavioral trends and opportunities

- Collaborating with cross-functional sales, business development, applications and product teams to maintain consistent messaging

- Monitoring custom analytics to course-correct and ensure program success

Tech & tools used: Miro, HubSpot, Pitch.Link, Google Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, Inlytics, Canva, LinkedIn APIs, Waalaxy, MidJourney, Google Gemini

Co-Founder, Head of Brand and Marketing Strategy

Edgio

- Established and cultivated a culture of continuous performance improvement within the core business of running Edgio's compute platform with industry standard tools like Jira, Confluence, OpsGenie, ServiceNow, PagerDuty and others

- Realized $35k+ cost savings over external recruitment by hiring, training and promoting entry-level technicians up to celebrated roles in project management

- Reduced time-to-market by leveraging hands-on experience developed in the field to drive innovative deployment and service methods

- Increased cross-functional team collaboration by connecting document silos across AOL, Yahoo, Limelight and Edgecast

- Cut operational cost and decreased churn by strategically allocating human resources and training partners to think and work like employees

- Restored thousands of nodes to production by building a novel service and support system in challenging markets like India, Brazil and the Nordics through strong relationships with manufacturers and service vendors

- Held teams together through organizational pivots by developing social camaraderie outside the office and in the field 

*Tech & tools used: Google Suite, Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Apple Remote Desktop, Jamf Pro, Confluence, ServiceNow, OpsGenie, PagerDuty, Kanban, Agile, Scrum, Visio, Slack, Zoom, Jira, Juniper Paragon, Dell OpenManage, Dell DigitalLocker, Windows Server, AWS, Workday, Paycom, SAP

Datacenter Operations Manager

Edgecast

- Scaled the Edgecast digital content delivery network as a deployment lifecycle specialist, growing the core platform from $4M to an over $400M acquisition by Verizon, and subsequent merger with Yahoo, AOL, Uplynk and Limelight

- Traveled globally as a tactical lead, project manager and new employee trainer; racking up dozens of successful, on-time projects, thousands of servers put into production and an entire team of engineers trained on their first deployments

- Developed detailed documentation processes in Visio, Google Suite, Confluence, IT Asset Management databases and other collaborative, web-based tools to allow cross-team partners to form automation around a single source of asset-state truth 

- Built a reputation for approachability, reliability, and subject matter expertise through relationships within key individuals among cross-functional teams and external vendor-contractors

* Tech & tools used: Google Suite, Microsoft 365, Visio, Confluence, Jira, ServiceNow, OpsGenie, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Dell OpenManage, Juniper Paragon, Cisco Meraki, Ciena, ServerTech, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Apple Remote Desktop, Jamf Pro, Confluence, ServiceNow, OpsGenie, PagerDuty, Kanban, Visio, Slack, Zoom, Jira, Cisco Meraki, Juniper Paragon, Dell OpenManage, Dell DigitalLocker, Windows Server, RedHat Linux, Fedora Linux, Ciena, BTI, CentOS, MacOS, JunOS, Bash, iOS, AWS, Workday, Paycom, SAP

Data Center Engineer

j2 Global Communications (now Ziff Davis)

- Resolved the telecommunications and media asset needs of clients like Federal Reserve Bank and KPMG through research, feasibility studies with Executive leaders and key stakeholders, and deployment of strategic server-network hardware on-site and in remote colocations around the world

- Created a legacy system of IT hardware deployment and service methodologies by developing detailed blueprints, technical documentation, and data analysis throughout global network footprints

- Realized over $20k savings year-over-year by owning the IT hardware and software asset procurement and lifecycle process, consolidating asset tracking into a novel database from the ground up

- Beat project deadlines, adhered to budget and promoted positive work environment by training and mentoring a flexible, global contractor force

* Tech & tools used: RedHat Linux, Microsoft Windows Server, Nagios, EasyVista, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visio, HP Intelligent Provisioning, Cisco IP Communications, NetApp Storage, Sun System, SpectraLogic Tape Backup, HVAC maintenance, Diesel Generator maintenance, Power Distribution Units, Fiber Optic and Copper Patch Panels, Structured Cabling, Disaster Recovery, Halon Fire Suppression

Datacenter Hardware Engineer

Ipowerweb

- Enhanced the customer service model at Ipower by training and mentoring dozens of technical representatives at offices in California and Arizona

- Formed lasting relationships with individual business owners by collaborating with development and systems team to build custom dedicated and virtualized server hosting solutions to grow their brands internet presence

- Coached business customers in using web development tools like HTML, CSS, PHP MySQL and SSL

- Thwarted threats to customer environments like DDoS, virus injections and malicious scripts

* Tech & tools used: RedHat Linux, SuSE Linux, Microsoft Windows Server, HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, DNS, SSL, Bash scripting, Windows Powershell, SSL, MS Frontpage, HTML, HVAC, PDUs, Copper and Fiber Optic Patch Panels, Structured Cabling, Disaster Recovery, Fire Suppression, Diesel Generators

Sr. Network Operations Engineer

Co-Founder | Strategic Growth / Healthcare Education / Operational Safety

I approach brand-building the way architects design multi-use developments: intentionally, and future-focused. My work sits at the intersection of marketing, systems design, and business strategy. I've created the manual frameworks that scale to align people, products, and purpose across an entire organization.

I lead brand strategy as a Co-Founder at STAAJ for its growing list of products. My goal is to make sure our messaging and marketing support real, sustainable business growth: whether that means helping doctors grow their practices, helping high-risk businesses create safer workplaces, or connecting CEOs and founders with the expertise they need to scale.

Founder | High-Density Compute

Taking decades of experience in building bleeding edge compute and network infrastructure in datacenters around the world helped me launch Studio Compute. As my own business leader, I support other leaders in the field who are faced with the challenges of AI and HPC workloads.

Beyond work: 

I'm a lifelong writer, photographer, and filmmaker. I'm also a die-hard coffee lover & advocate for regenerative coffee farming.

Alex Wichman

There’s a moment in datacenter work that never gets old.

Three fresh new racks rolling onto the raised floor. Clean rails. Blank canvas. All potential.

And instantly, the questions start:

Do we have the power ceiling for what we want to put in these cabinets? What about after the next refresh, or five years from now?

Is cooling in this row going to behave under real load?

What does the network need to be? Heavy transit, or mostly east-west bandwidth?

Then come the questions that make or break uptime:

What’s our relationship like with the space and power provider? Partner, or ticket queue?

Who do we have local for emergencies when something fails?

And where’s the closest place to grab coffee and food at 3 in the morning?

That’s the magic of datacenter infrastructure. It’s not just racks and gear. It’s physics, planning, relationships, and logistics. Done right, those three racks become years of reliable capacity.

I Help Companies Build and Run IT Data Center + Robotics Infrastructure | Hardware and Systems Integration Specialist | I Take My Coffee Black

Watching my son help lead his high school robotics team to its best competition performance in the three years he’s been involved was deeply emotional.

As lead programmer and the team’s sole robot pilot, he carried a lot on his shoulders. The weekend was full of challenges. In one early match, the automation fired stray balls at the referee. Later, it failed completely. Network connectivity was disrupted by friendly fire, then stopped altogether.

But the team kept going.

They adapted, stayed composed, and helped their alliance win by scoring when they could and playing smart, critical defense when they had to.

As a father, I’m incredibly proud. As someone who works in robotics automation deployment, it meant even more to watch my son grow under pressure and play such an important role in the camaraderie his team enjoys.

The wins mattered. But seeing that resilience, teamwork, and growth up close was immeasurable.

Resourcefulness is not just how we troubleshoot. It’s how we show up.

On a week-long project for a Los Angeles client, the Studio Compute crew proved (again) that talent comes in more forms than cable runs and hardware swaps.

EZ put on a clinic in the kitchen and on the grill. Steak, chicken, and a solid workflow. I jumped in between tasks to help prep, and together we grilled up big burritos to feed the client and keep the energy up.

It was practical, it was fast, and it made the site feel like a team effort instead of a transaction.

That’s the Studio Compute way. Do what it takes, take care of people, and have a little fun while we deliver. 

#StudioCompute #FieldService #CustomerExperience #Leadership #Operations #Teamwork #LosAngeles

Most people overlook it, but data center work generates a lot of garbage. Years ago, I was on the other side of this equation.

I wasn’t the field service business owner, I was the client. The one hiring support through a vendor and waiting for a tech to show up and help get a job across the finish line.

This day in particular the guy showed up in a button-up dress shirt and slacks with a ton of confidence... which is fine, but also concerning for reasons you'll soon learn. A couple hours into the day, I asked him to do something necessary, though painfully unglamorous:

“Hey, can you take out the trash when you get a second?”

He got mad. Like, genuinely irate. His face turned red and he started telling me how he used to be a team lead. How he was the one who told other people to take out the trash. How that wasn’t “his job.”

And I remember thinking, dude, this is the whole job. Field service isn’t a title... it’s an attitude.

It’s showing up where the work is happening, and doing what needs doing. Whether that’s terminating cable, rebuilding a rack, calming down a stressed-out stakeholder, or flattening server boxes so the site stays usable and the client feels supported.

Because clients don’t separate the work into neat little buckets of “technical” and “not technical.” They experience one thing: Did you help us today, or did you add friction?

If you’re in field service, here’s the standard: You show up. You’re a team player. You take out the trash. That’s the job.

#FieldService #Leadership #CustomerExperience #Operations #ServiceCulture #TechnicalServices #SmallThingsBigImpact

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Matt McDannel

Alex Wichman

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The Battle

Matt McDannel

Alex Wichman

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Alex Wichman's LinkedIn Performance

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