Information storage provider Iron Mountain Inc. has named Bob Brennan as CEO. Brennan plans to use his strong background in M&A and corporate growth to drive business past $3 billion in revenues this year. "We are expanding geographically, and acquisition is definitely central to our strategy going forward," he said.

Brennan, 47, became COO for the company in 2005 through Iron Mountain's acquisition of Connected Corp., which he ran. Prior to Connected he worked for Cisco Systems Inc., which he joined when it bought American Internet, where he was also CEO. "I learned that someone has to want to buy you; you can't just sell a company," Brennan said.

Last year Boston-based Iron Mountain acquired over 20 companies. As the company continues to expand into high-growth markets such as China, Australia, Russia and Malaysia, partnering and joint ventures are also a central part of the strategy. "We have 15 joint ventures and partnerships with companies in these areas, and eight of those have ended in acquisition, and we expect the other seven to end similarly," Brennan said. Brennan added that Iron Mountain does not plan on divesting any companies.

With its November 2007 acquisition of Stratify Inc., Iron Mountain will expand in the litigation tool and technology space. "Electronic discovery makes it easier for our clients to find documents for legal reasons, so this is the next level," Brennan said.

Iron Mountain has also announced a partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co. to grow in the medical imaging arena. Through this partnership (one that will presumably not lead to an acquisition), HP will have access to Iron Mountain's client base and will be able to provide both imaging with HP technology and image storing options. Iron Mountain has also partnered with Dell Inc. through MessageOne to channel services so Iron Mountain can offer an e-mail management suite to clients and Dell can offer its document management services.

All in all Brennan will have his hands full in June when he replaces Richard Reese, who will become executive chairman of the company. "It feels good to be giving up the day-to-day operations to someone I trust," Reese said. - Maria Woehr

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