SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 2 — Rackspace Hosting, the service leader in cloud computing, today announced that Taylor Rhodes has been appointed as Managing Director, International to lead the company’s business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. Rhodes is replacing David Kelly, Rackspace’s Senior Vice President, International. Kelly will be leaving Rackspace on February 29, 2012, to pursue entrepreneurial interests.

Rhodes joined Rackspace in 2007 to lead the Intensive business unit, where he was responsible for delivering Fanatical Support to more than 1,000 of the company’s largest and most complex customers. Rhodes then went on to start up Rackspace Enterprise Services, a business unit that launched Rackspace up-market from its SMB roots. Rhodes was most recently appointed in January 2011 to lead the Rackspace Enterprise business in Europe.

“Having been a Racker for over four years, I’m passionate about the company’s vision of delivering an exceptional customer service experience through Fanatical Support, and that vision is alive across our international business,” said Rhodes. “The international team is doing something very special here and we have reached some major milestones, including the successful launch of the European Cloud and recognition by the Sunday Times, Financial Times and National Business Awards as a top employer. I’m excited about the future.”

Rhodes joined Rackspace from EDS, where he held a series of progressive leadership roles managing end-to-end relationships with large global customers. Rhodes is also an ex-US Marine Corps officer, and holds a MBA degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a top US business school. Rhodes’ new role will be responsible for developing the company’s strategic priorities and creating business growth across International Markets.

"I am thrilled to have veteran Racker Taylor Rhodes step into this role," said Lanham Napier, president and CEO of Rackspace. “Taylor has consistently demonstrated strong leadership and has our Fanatical Support promise at the heart of everything he does. We are confident that we will see our international business continue to grow.”

“I appreciate the contributions that David Kelly has made to help our international operations and want to thank him for his leadership and wish him well as he pursues his entrepreneurial dreams,” added Napier.

About Rackspace

Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) is the service leader in cloud computing, and a founder of OpenStack™, an open source cloud operating system. The San Antonio-based company provides Fanatical Support to its customers and partners, across a portfolio of IT services, including Managed Hosting and Cloud Computing. Rackspace has been recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as a Top 100 Performing Technology Company and was featured on Fortune's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. The company was also positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the "2010 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting." For more information, visit www.rackspace.com.

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Source: Rackspace Hosting