**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in January.**

RapidScale has added a new member to its leadership team by promoting an employee who will oversee all things cloud.

Duane Barnes now serves as senior vice president of cloud engineering for the managed cloud services provider. The cloud-related activities he manages include engineering, architecture, support, solutions engineering and project management.

Barnes has been working at RapidScale since last year. He worked as director of solutions engineering for seven months. That job included giving marketing support to other branches of the company and “architecting complex cloud computing solutions.”

“I am thrilled to have Duane take on this elevated role within our company,” said William Hiatt, RapidScale’s chief technology officer. “As we have continued our global expansion, it is crucial we keep investing in our people. I look forward to Duane’s positive contributions to our partners, clients and the RapidScale team.”

The Irvine, California-based company is planning on expanding into multiple offices this year. The expansion began with a new Dallas office last October.{ad}

Barnes came to RapidScale last summer from master agent Intelisys, where he had a short stint as a cloud specialist. He directed solutions engineering for Windstream Hosted Solutions from 2010 to 2014. The North Carolina-based IT veteran also spent a year leading pre-sales and professional services for Open-Xchange.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to take on such an important role in the company. I am very much looking forward to developing and growing our talented team across all disciplines in the coming months and years,” Barnes said.

Barnes was in the news earlier this month when he announced the hiring of a new solutions engineer for RapidScale. Dylan Bouterse came over to the company from TierPoint.