Iron Mountain ALM Chief of Staff Paul Cogan on Unlocking the Global ITAD Market

Q: Can you walk us through your career path and what ultimately brought you to Iron Mountain?

Paul Cogan: I started my career in finance right after university and spent 18 years at a global beverage company in various roles. Then I had a two-year period at a media company before joining Wisetek as CFO, which instantly appealed to me - their model of giving end-of-life servers and computers a second chance aligned with my interest in sustainability. Iron Mountain acquired Wisetek about 13 months ago, and that's how I joined the company.

Q: How has the integration been for former Wisetek employees?

Paul Cogan: It's been great. With the scale of Iron Mountain, our colleagues benefit from the right level of business policies and procedures and robust support, especially for mental health and wellbeing. The entire team has been made very welcome from day one which has made the transition and integration into Iron Mountain so much easier.

Q: What opportunity do you see for the ALM business?

Paul Cogan: Global IT Asset Disposition (ITAD), reverse logistics, and IT asset management offer enormous opportunities, with a significant total addressable market that remains relatively underserved. No one has fully cracked this market yet.

The company that successfully standardizes and scales global ITAD and asset management is best positioned to do that. As we expand our ALM footprint and integrate new acquisitions, our focus is on establishing a consistent, global way of working, that serves our customers brilliantly.

Q: What's your personal leadership style, and what core values guide you?

Paul Cogan: I'm very outcome-oriented. I emphasize that organizations are driven by people, not systems. I value a close-knit team working toward the same agenda. I think it’s important to be open to changing your mind based on new information and to act with integrity, one of Iron Mountain’s core values. I'm also very action-oriented, because "just because you write it in a slide presentation doesn't make it happen".

Q: Do you have any non-work-related accomplishments you're proud of?

Paul Cogan: This has been a very full year! We sold our house, bought a new one, and started renovations. But my biggest achievement was probably the three-month planning of our wedding. It started as an idea to elope to Sydney and quickly grew into a big Irish wedding with 250 people.

Q: What activity helps you decompress and recharge?

Paul Cogan: I've played the guitar since I was a child, and even 10 minutes in the evening helps my mind shift gears. It brings a real sense of calm.

Q: What's one piece of career advice you'd give your younger self?

Paul Cogan: Trust your gut more. I think our gut feeling is often aligned with our personal values.