Multi-Cloud Data Services Pioneer Faction Appoints Derek Pilling as CEO

Faction enters new growth phase as organizations seek better and faster outcomes from AI, ML and BI


DENVER, Dec. 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Multi-cloud data services provider Faction announced today it has named Derek Pilling as its new CEO, following the completion of an acquisition and financing transaction sponsored by ORIX Corporation USA’s Growth Capital group and Mr. Pilling’s family investment firm, Tahosa Capital. ORIX USA’s Growth Capital group extended new capital to Faction in support of the company’s growth and expansion plans. Pilling, who joined Faction as Chief Financial Officer in 2020, has worked for over thirty years with venture capital and private equity-backed companies, supporting successive generations of market leaders in technology-enabled services. As a result of the transaction, Faction has become an employee-owned and operated organization.

Data-driven businesses worldwide are rushing to modernize their data infrastructure in pursuit of business transformation outcomes, including making substantial investments in cloud-based artificial intelligence and machine learning. Compatible with existing cloud and on-premises investments, Faction’s patent protected Multi-Cloud Data Services provide the only data-first architecture for the public cloud, enabling the presentation of a single data store to applications and cloud-based services running in and across multiple hyperscale public clouds. Faction solutions enable data-driven businesses to run workloads across multiple public clouds, select the best cloud services and applications for each workload’s requirements, and reduce data storage costs by obviating the need to keep multiple copies of data.

“Data-driven transformation requires a data-first architecture for the public cloud. The race to gain insights from data is pushing organizations to modernize their data architectures,” said Pilling. “They’re realizing that the operational complexity and cost of consolidating, copying and moving data to the many destinations where it is used is expensive, time-consuming and ultimately, inhibits data-driven transformation. Businesses that modernize their data architecture with a data-first approach will accelerate their transformation efforts, gain better insights faster, and ultimately lead their market segments.”

Former CEO Sean Charnock, who led the company for four years and through successful recapitalization, will complete a planned transition and continue to support the company as a member of the company’s board. Founder Luke Norris will remain an advisor to the business as he pursues other startup business interests.

“The visionary data-first architecture we set out to create years ago aligns seamlessly to meet the current demands of organizations wanting to modernize their data architecture,” noted Charnock. “Derek’s history with Faction and his ability to lead with the company to support organizations in unlocking the value of their data makes Derek the ideal choice to lead Faction into its next phase. The upcoming years will be an exciting chapter for the company.”

“Derek has strong experience growing technology services companies with deep knowledge of the company and of the data infrastructure space, and we look forward to this next chapter for Faction under his leadership,” added Jeff Bede, Managing Director and Head of ORIX USA’s Growth Capital group. “Faction's differentiated multi-cloud data services approach has the potential to drive significant growth for the company as they optimize their market opportunity in the larger data transformation ecosystem.”

About Faction
Successful data-driven transformation requires a data-first approach to storing, managing and presenting data. As the pioneer of Multi-Cloud Data Services (MCDS), Faction offers the only data-first architecture for simultaneously presenting a single copy of data to your choice of applications and cloud services in multiple public clouds. Faction’s Multi-Cloud Data Services accelerate business outcomes from third-party services including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Business Intelligence (BI), speeding up time to innovation. Our flagship product, Faction Cloud Control Volumes® (CCV), offers highly scalable, cloud-integrated storage that leverages low-latency, high throughput network connections to multiple clouds via our proprietary network fabric, the Faction Internetwork eXchange™ (FIX). Faction MCDS deliver the agility, performance, scalability, security, and data sovereignty necessary to realize the promise of data-driven transformation. To learn more about Faction, visit www.factioninc.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About ORIX Corporation USA (ORIX USA)
Founded in 2001, ORIX USA’s Growth Capital business provides customized and flexible debt PIN(SaaS) and healthcare sectors. Established in the U.S. in 1981, ORIX USA has grown organically and through acquisition into the investment and asset management firm we are today. With a specialization in private credit, real estate, and private equity solutions for middle-market focused borrowers and investors, we combine our robust balance sheet with funds from third-party investors, providing a strong alignment of interest. ORIX USA and its subsidiaries have approximately 1300 employees across the U.S. and have $85 billion in assets, which include $27.3 billion of assets under management, $47.9 billion in servicing and administration assets, and approximately $9.8 billion in proprietary assets, as of September 2023. For more information, visit orix.com.

Media Contact:
Brianna Bruinsma
Firebrand Communications
faction@firebrand.marketing
415 848 9175