EchoStor Elevates Dan Phoenix to VP of Specialty Practices

Most businesses are still thinking about AI as the next phase of digital transformation. Dan Phoenix thinks that’s underselling it. 

As organizations face escalating security risks and mounting operational complexity, the demand for high‑caliber managed services has never been greater. EchoStor is already leading with a services‑first strategy, and Phoenix is driving it to its next phase.  

“Our growth engine is services—delivery services, managed services—especially in security, networking, and the Microsoft ecosystem,” Phoenix said. “Defining, packaging, and positioning those services in front of customers is the primary lever for growth.” 

It’s a distinction Phoenix earned the right to make. Before joining EchoStor in late 2020, he spent years at Cisco—including time on the company’s Digital Transformation team, a consultative group focused on understanding customer business challenges before mapping them to technology solutions. That experience shaped Phoenix’s approach to his work today: start with the business problem, then get to the technology. 

Phoenix brought that consultative mindset to VMware and then to EchoStor, where he now runs a specialty practices organization that operates the same way: leading with customer needs and connecting them to the right solutions across a growing portfolio. 

Phoenix now oversees all of EchoStor’s specialty practices—network, security, Microsoft, AI, and ServiceNow—and is responsible for building cross-architecture solutions that cut across traditional technology silos. Think security layered with Microsoft capabilities. Or ServiceNow integrated with AI-powered incident response. The kind of work that requires someone who can see across an entire technology landscape and connect the dots for customers who are too deep in their own environments to see what’s possible. 

Connecting the Dots Customers Can’t See 

That visibility gap is the problem Phoenix is solving. In his experience, the biggest obstacle for most organizations isn’t technology. It’s awareness. 

“Most of the time when you talk to a customer, they say ‘I had no idea,’” Phoenix said. “Everyone is wrapped up in their own job every day. Someone in security probably isn’t talking to the ServiceNow stakeholders about how they could leverage SecOps to automate incident response. But if they knew, they’d probably do it.” 

Before Phoenix took on the broader role, EchoStor’s specialty practices largely operated independently. Practice leads ran their own pillars with limited cross-pollination. Phoenix changed that by establishing monthly collaboration sessions where practice leads discuss integrations, join customer calls together, and develop multi-solution strategies that span the full portfolio. 

“That really didn’t exist before,” he said. “And even if you ask the guys, they all call that out as being a big value.” 

Services as the Growth Engine 

Phoenix’s strategy for 2026 centers on accelerating EchoStor’s shift toward services – delivery services, managed services – particularly in security, networking, and the Microsoft ecosystem. Those are inherently services-heavy businesses, and Phoenix sees defining, packaging, and positioning those services in front of account teams and customers as the primary lever for growth. 

The approach starts with assessments—getting an understanding of a customer’s environment to identify gaps and blind spots, particularly around security, data protection, and cyber resilience. From there, Phoenix and his team map those findings to solutions that span EchoStor’s specialty practices, often surfacing opportunities the customer didn’t know existed. 

The AI Opportunity—and Why It Touches Everything 

Phoenix is clear-eyed about AI’s current state: still early, not perfect, but already embedded across every practice area he oversees. Microsoft Copilot is reshaping productivity. Machine learning powers the cybersecurity applications EchoStor deploys. AI is automating network infrastructure management. And it’s driving new efficiencies in business processes that would have seemed out of reach a few years ago. 

“AI is not transformational: it’s revolutionary,” Phoenix said. 

His point isn’t that AI is a separate practice—it’s that AI touches all the practices. And that makes the cross-functional approach he’s built at EchoStor more relevant than ever. When a customer’s security, network, and productivity tools all have AI capabilities, someone needs to help them understand how those pieces fit together.  

Calm Under Pressure 

Phoenix brings more than two decades of industry experience to the role, including stints at Cisco and VMware, a Cisco CCIE certification, and a master’s degree in cybersecurity. He also runs EchoStor’s internal cybersecurity compliance program. 

But ask him what gives him the biggest edge in a high-pressure leadership role, and his answer is unexpected: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 

Phoenix is a BJJ black belt with nearly 20 years of training and competition experience, and the owner of Phoenix BJJ, a martial arts academy in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He’s trained with Kron Gracie and competes in IBJJF tournaments. And he’s emphatic that the discipline translates directly to the boardroom. 

“The biggest thing Jiu-Jitsu has taught me is being able to stay cool under pressure, and that’s critical in this job,” Phoenix said. “I’m used to having someone trying to break my limb or strangle me unconscious, and you must think about how to get out of that. That translates to being able to think under pressure when there’s a lot happening, to rationalize and make a decision.” 

It’s not just a metaphor. Many of his students are sales and IT leaders from the tech community who seek out the training for exactly those reasons—staying calm in stressful situations, building mental resilience, and maintaining wellness in demanding careers. 

The Need for a Specialty Practice Right Now 

Phoenix’s promotion comes during a stretch that has fundamentally changed EchoStor’s scale and ambition. The company earned its first Inc. 5000 appearance following nearly 80% revenue growth in 2024, jumped 47 spots to No. 41 on CRN’s Fast Growth 150, was named a CRN Triple Crown winner, and was recognized as Dell’s 2025 North America Regional Partner of the Year. In September 2025, the company completed its first-ever acquisition. CEO Mike Johnson has said publicly that EchoStor is approaching $500 million in annual revenue and targeting $1 billion within five years. 

Specialty practices sit at the center of that growth story. As EchoStor expands its geographic footprint and customer base, the ability to lead with consultative, cross-architecture solutions—rather than point products—is what separates a vendor from a strategic partner. Phoenix’s promotion signals that EchoStor is doubling down on that distinction. 

“Dan has a rare combination of deep technical expertise and the ability to think strategically about how technology solves real business problems,” said Mike Johnson, CEO of EchoStor Technologies. “He’s built our specialty practices into something that gives customers a fundamentally different experience—and as we scale, that’s only going to become more important.” 

The revolution – not transformation – is just getting started.