FORTRUST Ownership

Ownership and Management

FORTRUST is a privately held company based in Denver, Colorado. FORTRUST is a part of the Magness Group of Companies.  FORTRUST is the operating trade name of Mag Datacenters, LLC, and is funded through the Magness Group of Companies. Gary Magness and Steve Knudson are the original developers of FORTRUST with the vision and intention of being one of the premier data center and colocation services companies in the United States. Gary Magness is the Chairman of the Magness Group of Companies, which is the successor to Bob Magness, Founder and Chairman of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) and its subsidiary Liberty Media Corporation, one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world.  

For more information on FORTRUST ownership visit our ABOUT page.

Steve Knudson, Vice Chairman, President and CEO

Steve Knudson, Vice Chairman, President and CEO

Vice Chairman, President and CEO Steve Knudson drives FORTRUST’s success each day through strategic positioning, strong financial management and a drive to continually develop the company in its role as a premier high-availability facility for businesses seeking world-class colocation and data center services. Supporting his tactical oversight role at FORTRUST, Steve has significant experience in managing complex business relationships and has negotiated multi-billion dollar business deals in real estate, oil and gas, securities, finance and technology. Steve is a graduate of the University of Colorado School of Business and the University of Colorado School of Law, and serves as General Counsel, Vice President and Director at FORTRUST’s private parent company.

Rob McClary, Vice President

Rob McClary, Vice President

Rob McClary joined FORTRUST in 2001, and continues to hold the critical role of building the company into the premier data center services provider and colocation facility that it is today. As Vice President, he is responsible for the overall supervision of business operations, sales and marketing, high-profile construction and technical direction. Rob developed and implemented the process controls and procedures that provide the continuous uptime and reliability that FORTRUST's customers seek. Rob developed and honed his management philosophy, attention to detail and strict process standards during his 16-year tenure in the United States Navy, and continues to implement standards that position FORTRUST as a premium provider of colocation services.  Rob is a graduate of Southern Illinois University. Additionally, Rob received designation as an Accredited Tier Specialist (ATS) by the Uptime Institute in 2010.

Bryon Miller, General Manager

Bryon Miller, General Manager

Bryon brings more than 25 years of management experience to his role at FORTRUST, and is the longest tenured employee at the company. He provides oversight for and manages all aspects of the facility's operations at the physical layer, all NOC operations, systems implementation and monitoring. Heavily involved in developing the data center’s processes and procedures, Bryon helps manage construction projects, purchases equipment and oversees the installation of equipment. Serving as liaison between FORTRUST and customers, Bryon ensures that each unique customer expectation is exceeded. Bryon received designation as an Accredited Tier Specialist (ATS) by the Uptime Institute in 2011.

Josh Moody, Executive Director of Sales

Josh Moody, Executive Director of Sales

Josh joined FORTRUST in June, 2008 as an Enterprise Account Manager.   He quickly moved into the role of Business Development Manager and was promoted to run the sales organization in October, 2012.  He is responsible for developing, managing and executing the overall sales strategy for FORTRUST.   Josh brings more than 18 years of experience in the Information Technology field, including developing and executing strategic planning, management, customer relations, and vendor/partner relationships.   Colorado Business Magazine identified Josh as one of the top 25 Most Powerful Sales Reps in Colorado in 2010.  Prior to joining FORTRUST, Josh spent seven years with SunGard Availability Services.  Josh is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Mark Nixon, Director of Solutions Engineering

Mark Nixon, Director of Solutions Engineering

Mark joined FORTRUST in April, 2011. Mark provides pre-sales solution engineering and architecture support in addition to post-sales implementation support for FORTRUST’s customers. He serves as a liaison between customers and FORTRUST operations teams from prospect discovery through customer service, turn-up and beyond.   Mark has more than 20 years of experience in IT management, pre-sales engineering and post-sales service delivery management.  He holds several industry specific certifications and has honed his skills through his experience working for companies such as Hewlett Packard, ABB, JD Edwards and Qwest Hosting Services.  Mark is a graduate of Colorado State University.

Michael Robnett, Service Delivery Manager

Michael Robnett, Service Delivery Manager

Michael joined FORTRUST in 2007 and is responsible for designing and delivering best-in-class technical solutions to FORTRUST customers. He acts as the service delivery manager, serving as a pre-sales consultant to identify customer’s solution needs.   He serves as a liaison between customers and FORTRUST operational teams throughout all facets of the sales cycle through customer acquisition.  Michael also provides current customers with technical support as their requirements grow and change.   He has a diverse background in several customer-oriented industries including personal and professional finance, oil & gas, publishing, transportation, communications and colocation.  With over 20 years of IT experience, Michael brings significant experience at the senior management level in IT service delivery, operations, project management, and data center management. He is a graduate of University of California San Diego.

Trevor Struck, Data Center Facility Manager

Trevor Struck, Data Center Facility Manager

Trevor joined FORTRUST in 2007 and is responsible for the operations of FORTRUST’s critical, essential, and non-essential systems that support the data center operations in a high availability environment. Trevor is responsible for the maintenance and operations of all electrical distributions, cooling and mechanical systems that support the data center operations.  He oversees the Facilities Team in ensuring superior quality control of all data center maintenance.  Trevor also manages and provides for the modification and installation of projects that are specific to all existing customer provisioning and new customer migration. Trevor came to FORTRUST from Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) where he was Project Manager for the Rocky Mountain region, installing and maintaining Commercial/Industrial refrigeration systems. Trevor served four years in the United States Navy and received designation as an Accredited Tier Specialist (ATS) by the Uptime Institute in 2012.

Rob Lewis, Information Technology Services Manager

Rob Lewis, Information Technology Services Manager

Rob Lewis joined FORTRUST in August, 2012.  Rob is responsible for the operations of all Information Technology Services (ITS) in FORTRUST’s high availability environment.  He also manages the Network Department and is responsible for customers' Service Level Agreements (SLA) for Managed Internet Access (MIA). Additionally, Rob oversees the systems engineering design and implementation along with post install support of the IP network and all corporate back office systems.  Rob brings more than 15 years of experience in leading IT, managing teams, technologies and projects on a global scale.  Rob comes from a diverse background in industries such as architectural, engineering, environmental, munitions, emergency response firms as well as government agencies.  He is a graduate of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. 

Mike Darby, Data Center Facility Supervisor

Mike Darby, Data Center Facility Supervisor

Mike joined FORTRUST in April 2012. He is responsible for the overall supervision of the facilities team which maintains the electrical power, chilled water cooling, and physical structures of the facility. Prior to FORTRUST, Mike taught mathematics and statistics as a faculty member at BYU-Idaho. He developed and honed his supervisory philosophy, attention to detail and strict process standards during his 24 year tenure in the United States Navy where he served in both enlisted and officer roles such as Navigator, Operations Officer, Engineer, Main Propulsion Assistant and Quality Assurance Officer on nuclear powered submarines. Mike has a Master’s degree in Operations Research from Naval Postgraduate School and a Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University.

Kara Miller, Director of Marketing

Kara Miller, Director of Marketing

Kara joined FORTRUST in November, 2011.  Kara is responsible for the execution of public relations, channel partner programs, and social media to grow the FORTRUST brand. Upon joining FORTRUST, Kara set out on the expansive initiative to develop the FORTRUST brand, key messaging, the strategic marketing plan, including the communications plan and environmental branding of the FORTRUST data center. Kara has over five years of marketing and business development experience in the hospitality and private equity industries, where she gained experience in brand marketing and analytics. Kara is a graduate of the University of Denver with a dual degree in Statistics and Marketing, from the Daniels School of Business.