Brent Hodges

Internet of Things Planning, Product Strategy | Dell

Brent has over twenty years of experience in strategy, commercial operations, marketing, business development and production management across specialty plastics, wireless semiconductors, technology standards and smart grid. Brent has worked for companies from the Fortune 500 to start-ups and since 2001 has been working to connect ‘things’ (not people) to networks and IT systems.

Prior to Dell, Brent was Chief Commercial Officer for Innovari, a smart grid start up. Before Innovari, Brent was at Tendril Networks where he was SVP and GM opening business operations for an energy service provider in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to Tendril, Brent was at NRG Energy and Reliant Energy where he led strategy and development for Smart Grid Service offerings. Before getting into the electric industry, Brent directed Marketing and Strategy at the ZigBee Alliance. From 2001 to 2005, Brent helped to start Ember Corporation (now Silicon Labs) in wireless sensor networking. Brent also ran several manufacturing operations across the US for a specialty plastics company supplying products to automotive, beverage and industrial customers.

Brent has been a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences as an advocate for new technologies and business models. He currently serves as Treasurer of the OpenFog Consortium and previously served on the Governing Board of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), the Board of Directors for the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) and the ZigBee Alliance.

Brent holds a BSIE from Texas A&M University, an MSIE from Purdue University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, watching their sports activities and traveling.