Leadership Team - Aqueduct Tech

Leadership Team

Manak Ahluwalia

President and CEO
LinkedIn

Manak Ahluwalia is President and CEO of Aqueduct Technologies. Aqueduct is regarded as one of the top service providers in North America recognized for its deep technical competencies, commitment to culture, and customer satisfaction. As President and CEO, Manak is responsible for formulating and implementing the strategic plan that guides the vision, mission, and overall direction of the organization. He has been recognized as an entrepreneurial leader by being named a 2016 Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40 award honoree.

Prior to founding Aqueduct, Manak worked for Alliant Technologies as their Chief Technology Officer and a member of their board. Manak also serves on a number of industry and manufacturer advisory boards.

Manak is active in the local community coaching recreational programs, working with local charities, and helping further STEM initiatives in Massachusetts. Manak graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He also carries several industry certifications and has completed a variety of leadership programs.

Shane O’Brien

CTO
LinkedIn

Shane O’Brien is the Chief Technology Officer, leading our team’s creation of multi-platform technology solutions, strategies and services for our customers and partners. He provides overall technical leadership for a number of projects and initiatives, working closely with Aqueduct’s leadership team to influence decisions regarding the organization’s s go-to market strategy.

Shane started his career enlisting early into the US Army at the age of 17, following 9/11. He is recognized for serving our country in missions during the Global War on Terrorism Campaign. While on assignment supporting the newly created TSA, he had a chance encounter with then CEO of Acronis, who offered him a start in IT following his time in the military.  This is where his career journey in technology began.

Now with 17 years in tech, he has built and led multiple engineering teams and holds several technical certifications in the industry. Prior to joining Aqueduct, he was with World Wide Technology, where he began as a Cloud Architect, then becoming Regional Manager for their Sales Engineering teams, and finally moving into a Client Executive position. He joined Aqueduct in 2021 and is a vital part of the company’s executive leadership team, supporting the company’s technical vision and strategy, while leading the technical teams across Aqueduct’s practice areas.

Shane spends his free time with his wife and three young children, enjoying summer lake time in Vermont, and playing golf.

Valerie Higgins

SVP of Finance, Planning & Culture
LinkedIn

Valerie Higgins is the SVP of Finance, Planning & Culture, responsible for managing the Accounting, Finance, and Human Resource functions at Aqueduct. Valerie works closely with the management team planning and executing company growth, profitability and lifecycle HR initiatives.

Prior to joining Aqueduct, Valerie has built efficient teams, processes and infrastructure to support Accounting, Finance and HR operations in numerous corporations around the Boston metro. Most recently she spent five and a half years at Turbonomic during their hyper-growth phase and was instrumental in supporting 26 quarters of consecutive growth by working closely with management to drive top line growth while efficiently managing the bottom line.

In her free time Valerie likes traveling, biking and ballroom dancing. Valerie has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Accounting and an MBA from Bentley University, in addition to a Human Resources certificate from Stonehill College.

Dan Murray

SVP, Strategic Growth & Operations
LinkedIn

Dan Murray is the SVP of Strategic Growth and Operations, responsible for enabling the growth of Aqueduct’s emerging business units across the organization, providing thought leadership and strategic initiatives for Carrier Services, Cloud Native, Talent Delivery and Managed Services. In addition, Dan is responsible for our organizational enablement, internal and external operations as well as supporting our primary vendor and partner relationships.

With over fifteen years of solution provider industry experience, Dan has had a tremendous impact to Aqueduct’s core business, working with Aqueduct’s customers directly, identifying their business challenges and helping to implement technical solutions. Dan most recently served as Aqueduct’s Director of Sales and has demonstrated his commitment over the years to our ease of doing business with our customers and business partners while ensuring our internal ability of conducting business to provide the ultimate customer experience.

As a Nichols College alumnus, and 2021 Hofstra Dad, Dan spends his free time outside of work dedicated to his family, enjoying weekend event Lacrosse tournaments, CrossFit with his wife Rachael, and golfing with friends.

Valerie-Higgins

Vincent Verducci

SVP of Sales
LinkedIn

Vinnie Verducci is the SVP of Sales, spearheading Aqueduct’s strategic sales initiatives to drive revenue growth executive on the go-to-market strategy.

As a passionate leader, Vinnie thrives on bringing people together and implementing processes that foster a winning culture and empowering his team to exceed their goals. His leadership philosophy is centered on helping others achieve their personal and professional aspirations. Vinnie recognizes that success starts with people. He believes that by assembling a great team, implementing robust processes, and fostering a clear vision with aligned expectations, extraordinary results can be achieved.

Prior to joining Aqueduct, Vinnie held strategic sales leadership positions at Medallia and Miro, focused on Fortune 100 companies. His association with Aqueduct dates back over a decade, having previously worked in sales roles at Cisco and EMC, both valued partners of Aqueduct. This longstanding relationship brings a wealth of industry experience to his current role.

Vinnie graduated from Bryant University with a BS in Finance. In his spare time, he enjoys golfing, fitness, and spending time with his family.

 


Jay Sartori

VP of Services
LinkedIn

Jay Sartori is the Vice President of Services, responsible for delivering projects and solutions based on business outcomes, to ensure they meet customer expectations. In this role, Jay oversees the technical training and enablement of the solution delivery engineers, unifying Aqueduct’s service delivery model through activation, operations, adoption, and lifecyle management.

Prior to moving into his most recent role, Jay was the Practice Director of Network, Security and Data Center, where he was responsible for over-seeing professional services engagements.

With over twenty years of experience between the enterprise and solution provider industry, Jay has worked closely with customers on developing solutions from start to finish with expertise in implementation.

Jay holds two Cisco CCIE certifications (Data Center and Security) and an undergraduate and graduate degree from Northeastern University. Outside of work, Jay lives an active lifestyle, spending time with his family and continually learning new technologies.

Katie LeVan

Director of Marketing
LinkedIn

Katie LeVan is the Director of Marketing, responsible for driving awareness and demand for Aqueduct’s portfolio of solutions and services.  With tight alignment across the organization, she is a collaborative leader, who is passionate about brand personalization and storytelling through customer-centric content.

With 10+ years in the IT/ Marketing industry, Katie has demonstrated success in campaign and event planning, content design, PR, branding, and digital marketing.  She has had a tremendous impact on Aqueduct’s growth, orchestrating strategic partner marketing initiatives and industry recognition programs. Katie enjoys continually learning new trends in tech marketing to positively impact our customers. Prior to joining Aqueduct five years ago, she worked at IDG’s CIO Executive Council.  During her time there, she also spearheaded content and event programming for their Women in Leadership group.

Katie graduated from UMass Amherst with a degree in Marketing and Economics.  Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, reading, home design projects, and spending time with her husband and their two daughters.

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