Web Hosting Specialist Rackspace Hires New Vice Presidents of Information Technology and Talent Development

July 24, 2007; 07:58 AM
Web hosting provider Rackspace® Managed Hosting today announced the addition of two new executives to the company’s team. Kiprian Miles comes to Rackspace from Golfsmith International where he spent the past five years as vice president and chief information officer. Miles will become Rackspace’s new vice president of information technology. Miles graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with a Bachelor of Science in Physics and has held leadership roles at Office Depot, Alcoa, Kmart and R.L. Polk & Company during his career. 

Also, Rackspace has added Thomas Hatton to the newly-created role of vice president of talent development. Prior to joining Rackspace, Hatton had spent his entire 29 year career with The Gallup Organization. For years Rackspace has used Gallups’ StrengthsFinder™ to assess employees’ strengths and Hatton’s primary areas of expertise have been in strengths-based selection and development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences and Psychology from the University of Nebraska, and pursued post-graduate work in Leadership/Educational Psychology and Measurement at the University of Southern California.

“Kip and Tom’s respected backgrounds bring a range of specialized knowledge and expertise to Rackspace,” said Lanham Napier, president and chief executive officer, Rackspace Managed Hosting. “Kip will be responsible for our internal enterprise application development and support. As we grow as a company and a business, Kip’s role will be essential in our goal to ensure our internal systems are maintained at the same level we provide our customers.

“By creating the role of talent development and enlisting Tom to spearhead it, we hope to enhance our ‘secret sauce’ -- that is, investing in people, our culture, Fanatical Support and building overall loyalty as we add new Rackers every month. We expect Tom to work internally with our recruiting and training divisions to best fit the right Racker in the right job for years to come. As Rackspace grows, our internal development and business is just as important as our customer-facing business and we need proven leaders like Kip and Tom in order to stay ahead of the competition.”