Patricia L Higgins

Retired President and Chief Executive Officer. Switch and Data Facilities, Inc. Ms. Higgins served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Switch and Data Facilities, Inc., a provider of neutral interconnection and collocation services, from September 2000 until her retirement in February 2004. In 1999 and 2000, Ms. Higgins served as Executive Vice President of the Gartner Group and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Research Board, a segment of the Gartner Group. From 1997 to 1999, she served as Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Alcoa Inc., and from 1995 to 1997, she served as Vice President and President (Communications Market Business Unit) of Unisys Corporation. From 1977 to 1995, she served in various managerial positions, including as Corporate Vice President and Group Vice President (State of New York) for Verizon (NYNEX) and Vice President, International Sales Operations (Lucent) for AT&T Corporation/Lucent. Ms. Higgins currently serves on the Board of Directors of Barnes & Noble, Inc., Internap Network Services Corporation and Visteon Corporation.