Microsoft Hires Starbucks Exec As Data Center Sustainability

Jim Hanna— former director of environmental affairs at Starbucks— will lead clean energy projects across the widespread network of Microsoft’s cloud data centers

Microsoft appointed Jim Hanna – former sustainability director for Starbucks – as its director data center sustainability. The company made the announcement via its official blog post on Tuesday.

The new director served for more than a decade in Starbucks as its environmental head, and led various successful projects. He’s widely credited for driving global strategies to address sustainability issues and has experience in various sectors such as tourism & hospitality, environment consultancy firms, and nonprofit organizations.

According to Microsoft Chief Environmental Strategist Rob Bernard, Jim Hanna’s experience in various functions of environmental concerns ranges from supply chain to energy and water reduction to policy engagements. He further added that Hanna’s new assignment relates with minimization of environmental impact of chipmaker’s extensive network of cloud data centers, which are spread worldwide.

The tech giant stated in its official blog post that “the addition of Mr.Hanna is part of Microsoft’s overall effort to expand its team of sustainability experts and to work with utility partners on renewable energy and developing pilot projects that better integrate clean energy into servers.”

Micrfosoft further mentioned on its Green Blog post: “we see tremendous opportunity for Microsoft and our growing ecosystem of partners to work with governments and organizations globally to leverage the power of cloud, Big Data, mobile and social technologies to accelerate the wave of innovation which will transform society’s understanding of and interaction with our natural environment.”

Mr. Hanna graduated from Washington State University with a baccalaureate degree in environmental sciences in 1992. Tech analysts believe that the new appointment would be substantial in setting up the right direction for Microsoft’s environmental sustainability team year ahead.

Source: http://www.technewstoday.com

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