Paula Winkler Named President of Nexus, A Stratos Company

Former Vice President, Leadership and Organization Practice at Aeritae Consulting Group, and Previous Executive Vice President and CIO of Carlson Hotels Worldwide Joins Stratos Management Systems, Parent of Nexus, to Lead Organization and Next Phase of Growth


MINNEAPOLIS, MN--(Marketwire - Mar 20, 2013) - Stratos Management Systems (Stratos) and Nexus, A Stratos Company (Nexus), today outlined the future course for Nexus and Stratos, and announced a new president. A proven business leader, Paula Winkler has joined Nexus as President. John DeRocker, former President of Nexus, is now spearheading the company's global growth as Sr. VP of Worldwide Channels for Stratos Management Systems. Bret Kidd, President and COO of Stratos, and Ken Brown, Stratos EVP and Chief Client Officer, continue with aggressive growth plans to establish Stratos as a global IT services leader, specialized in building and managing Hybrid IT solutions.

As SVP for Worldwide Channels, John DeRocker will grow Stratos' footprint inside the U.S. and internationally by leveraging the strong distributor and vendor relationships that have been built over many years. "Stratos' clients are increasingly in need of a global solution provider and John will be leading that mission for us," said Kidd.

As the new President of Nexus, Paula Winkler brings depth in IT services, experience as a CIO for one of the largest hospitality companies in the world and deep roots in the Twin Cities business community. Paula's executive background comes from her 12-year career with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and 12 years at Carlson. In the last few years, Paula has been consulting with CEOs and CIOs on IT strategy and has served as interim CIO for several large MN-based companies.

"Under Paula's leadership, we will build on the tremendous success that John DeRocker and the Nexus team delivered in 2012," said Kidd. "She has experienced IT services from every angle... as a service provider, client and consultant... and is uniquely qualified to help our clients achieve their business outcomes through technology."

"Paula is a proven leader with an exceptional track record of caring for her employees and clients," said Brown. "At Stratos and Nexus, we help clients access and utilize data in the way that works best for them -- via cloud or traditional infrastructure, on-site or off-site and with the blend of technologies that makes the most sense. With Paula's leadership skills and John's focus on expanding our services, Nexus will continue its legacy of exceeding our client's expectations by every measure."

About Stratos Management Systems, Inc.
Stratos Management Systems, Inc. (Stratos), based in Dallas, builds and manages hybrid IT environments including private cloud, public cloud and traditional infrastructure for enterprises throughout the central and southeastern United States. In 2012, Stratos acquired Nexus Information Systems, based in Minnesota and Computex, Inc., based in Houston, Texas. For more information visit http://www.stratos-inc.com.

About Nexus, A Stratos Company
Nexus, A Stratos Company (Nexus), is recognized as a regional leader in enterprise data center solutions and services with corporate headquarters out of Minneapolis, MN. From architecture design to implementation, Nexus' core expertise is in virtual infrastructure, cloud computing, business continuity, data storage management, networking, client computing and managed services. Nexus is certified with the highest data center partnerships as an HP Elite Partner, IBM Premier Partner, EMC Premier Partner and VMware Premier Partner. Since 2011, Nexus is recognized for their innovation and leadership as CRN Tech Elite 250 Editor's Choice, CRN 30 Cloud VARs that get IT, CRN Top 100 Healthcare VARs and listed seven consecutive years to the Solution Provider 500. For more information visit us at http://www.nexus-stratos.com

Contact Information:

Media Contact:
Andrew Fox
VP of Marketing
Stratos Management Systems
(952) 374 - 5300

Paula Winkler, President, Nexus - A Stratos Company