Buddy Bender

Buddy Bender currently serves as the Director of Core Infrastructure at REI since October 2024. Prior to this role, Buddy held the position of Vice President of Global IT Operations, Support & Services at HotelKey from 2022 to October 2024, overseeing global operations and support in various domains including Sales and Customer Success. From 2019 to 2022, Buddy served as Senior Director of Global Operations, Support, Engineering, and DevOps at Radisson Hotel Group Americas, focusing on enhancing IT support and engineering while promoting DevOps principles. Earlier, Buddy was the Head of IT Infrastructure Support & Services at The Home Depot from 2012 to 2019, where emphasis was placed on automating processes to reduce technical debt. Buddy's career also includes roles at AT&T and FedEx Services, where significant contributions were made in systems engineering and infrastructure support. Buddy holds an MBA and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Phoenix.