Paul Ford
Vice President of Community Development

Paul Ford is the Vice President of Community Development at SoftLayer. He oversees SoftLayer's Catalyst startup incubator program, as well as other strategic development and partner initiatives. He is also a lead mentor at the TechStars Cloud and Tech WildCatters Incubators.

He has almost 20 years of experience in the technology space (including raising millions of dollars from angel, seed, venture capital, and private equity companies as the president and co-founder of two software technology companies) and has a passion for seeing young companies succeed. Paul is one of five Entrepreneurs in Residence for the Office of Science and Technology for the US government. This Executive Branch appointment is designed to help the Administration understand how to better shape visa policy and guidelines to allow more foreign entrepreneurs into the United States.

Kelley Hilborn
Community Development Manager | Eastern Region, United States and Canada

Kelley Hilborn is a Community Development Manager for SoftLayer and manages Community Development as well as Catalyst operations in the eastern region of the US and Canada. Kelley also serves as the technical liaison between SoftLayer and technology-based startup companies everywhere. Prior to joining SoftLayer, Kelley spent 18 years in Information Technology Infrastructure where he managed support, infrastructure, administration, VoIP, networking, and security for companies such as Interstate Batteries, Time Warner, and The Planet. Kelley is an avid health and fitness nut, and is really tall.

Josh Krammes
Community Development Manager | Western Region, United States and Canada

Prior to SoftLayer, Josh had a diverse career in business development, startup management, fundraising, consulting, and politics. After serving on the Advance Team of President Clinton and Vice President Gore, Josh co-founded Continuum, and he has been a consultant to groups like DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company, SmithGroup, Bayview Electric, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Eastern Michigan University, the Tacoma Museum of Glass, The Palm Beach Maritime Museum, Sparked.com, Slavery Footprint, and BranchOut.com. Josh graduated from the University of New Hampshire, serves on several non-profit boards, is a life-long Big Brother, an avid runner, and is really nice.

Rita Radi
Community Development Manager | Canada and Latin America

To say that Rita understands the nuts and bolts of SoftLayer data centers is an understatement. Prior to joining the Catalyst team, she spent two years working in data center pods as a Server Build Technician in SoftLayer’s Washington D.C. data center. Rita has a bachelor of science degree in Organizational Communication and an MBA from Rollins College. She is multi-lingual (English, French, and Arabic), and really loves people and animals.

Emily Sampson
Senior Manager, Community Development | Europe, Middle East, and Africa

Prior to joining SoftLayer, Emily spent seven years in the hosting industry where she managed sales and business development teams, devised and implemented marketing strategies, and pioneered new and emerging markets. Emily is originally from the UK; she lived in Germany for 10 years and now resides in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Emily graduated with a dual degree in European Business Studies from the Anglia Ruskin University of Cambridge and Landshut University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Emily is passionate about startups, traveling, different cultures, and her family.

Anna Bofill Bert
Community Development Manager | Europe, Middle East and Africa

Anna works closely with Emily and focuses on the “Nordics” and Southern Europe. Before joining the SoftLayer family, Anna was leading the Spanish and International market operations for a Dutch Internet company. She was involved with strategy, marketing, sales, and accounts. Anna left her hometown of Barcelona in 2008 to start a new journey in the Netherlands. She has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), and in the future would like to take her degree one step further and specialize in Internet Psychology. Anna is really enthusiastic and loves being around people.

Casey Lau
Community Development Manager | Asia-Pacific

Casey began his digital career in the DotCom era. Based in Hong Kong, he co-founded four startups, sold two of them, crashed one, and currently serves on the board of the fourth. He is also the co-founder of StartupsHK, Hong Kong's premiere tech startup and entrepreneur network that hosts 3,000 members and startups. Casey is a social media ambassador, a self-proclaimed professor of pop culture, enjoys writing comic books about super-powered monsters in his spare time, and is really funny.