The OIX Board election for the 2025-2026 term will open on December 3th and continue for one week. There are 3 open board seats and 3 candidates. All OIX members will receive a ballot via email to the membership list. To obtain a ballot for the election, sign up as an OIX Member.
Candidates:
Rene Fichtmuller:
Rene Fichtmüller joined Flexoptix in 2018 and is an Evangelical Optician focused on solving customer problems. In his current role, he serves the DACH and APAC regions.
With his experience and technical know how, he not only provides technical solutions, but also educates and assists his clients and the wider community solve network problems.
Beyond his professional duties at Flexoptix, Rene has a passion for the community and knowledge-sharing. He serves the community through voluntary work and is co-founder of the Keep Ukraine Connected and Chairman of Global NOG Alliance (GNA) and also co-founder of the Sustainability Taskforce at Global NOG Alliance- an organization that unites network specialists from around the globe to exchange knowledge, develop best practices, and foster collaboration within the industry.
Rene has mentored and supported the start of new NOGs within Africa and APAC since 2019, while also supporting community driven Internet exchanges. In line with FLEXOPTIX’s core values of supporting and giving back to the community, Rene has played a key role in helping set up fellowships, training workshops, and other events aimed at strengthening and supporting the network engineering community.
Chris Grundemann:
Chris Grundemann is a passionate, creative technologist and a strong believer in technology's power to aid in the betterment of humankind. In his current role as Managing Director at Grundemann Technology Solutions he is expressing that passion by helping technology businesses grow and by helping any business grow with technology.
Chris has been using technology, marketing, and strategy to build businesses and non-profit organizations for two decades. He holds 8 patents in network technology and is the author of two books, an IETF RFC, a personal weblog, and a multitude of industry papers, articles, and posts. He is co-founder of the Network Automation Forum, the organization behind the AutoCon series of events. Chris is also a co-founder, Director, and Chair Emeritus of IX-Denver and the current Chair of the Board of Directors of OIX. He has held previous volunteer positions with CO ISOC (which he founded), ISOC-NY (Vice President), ARIN, NANOG, SANOG, AfPIF, CEA, UPnP, DLNA, RMv6TF, and several others.
Chris has given presentations in 34 countries on 5 continents and is often sought out to speak at conferences, NOGs, and NOFs the world over.
Phil Koblence:
Phillip Koblence is a strategic executive and thought leader in the datacenter and interconnection space. He co-founded NYI (www.nyi.net) in 1996 and has successfully evolved the company from a Web design and hosting provider to a facilitator of robust digital infrastructure and connectivity solutions with executional capabilities in key national and international markets. Phillip’s leadership, focus on customer experience, and ability to cut through complexity and hype, has positioned NYI as an industry leader in high-touch infrastructure services.
He also serves as CEO of Critical Ventures, and Managing Director at United Integrity Advisors, agencies that provide multi-disciplinary consulting services to a broad range of real estate and digital infrastructure firms.
Phillip is Co-Founder of the non-profit Nomad Futurist Foundation and Podcast, designed to demystify the world of critical infrastructure and inspire younger generations to join the industry.
Phillip sits on the DE-CIX North America Advisory Board and the Board of OIX, and also serves as an Advisor for Apolo, an AI deployment platform. He is a frequent speaker at industry events including Data Center World, Bisnow DICE, DCD, and Infra/STRUCTURE Summit. He has been profiled by Data Center Knowledge, TheWHIR, MSPMentor, and NJ BIZ. Recent awards and recognition include receipt of the 2023 IM100 Infrastructure Masons Award and selection as a Top 10 Datacenter Influencer by Data Centre Magazine. Phillip has an engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife and two children.