MOREHEAD CITY, NORTH CAROLINA / ACCESS Newswire / February 19, 2026 / 21st Century Software Technologies, Inc. (21CS) is pleased to announce the addition of industry veterans Dusty Rivers and Leonard (Len) Santalucia as Directors of Global Strategy. Rivers and Santalucia bring a strong combination of visionary leadership and decades of expertise across the IBM Z ecosystem. Both have shaped industry standards, championed innovation, and consistently invested in developing the next generation of mainframe professionals.

"Dusty Rivers and Len Santalucia are highly respected across the IBM Z community," said Eddy Ciliendo, Chief Executive Officer at 21CS. "Their values and commitment to the mainframe and to developing new talent align perfectly with our mission at 21CS."

Rivers joins 21CS after holding leadership roles in mainframe modernization at a major value‑added reseller and driving global integration initiatives for an application middleware company. In 2020, he became the first recipient of the IBM Lifetime Champion for Z award. Rivers serves on the Board of Directors for SHARE and is a frequent speaker and advocate for "New to Z" professionals and students through the IBM Z Academic Initiative.

Santalucia recently retired from Pellera Technologies, where he served as Chief Technology Officer for mainframe systems. He is the Chairperson of the Linux Foundation Open Mainframe Project, member of the IBM Z Academic Initiative Advocate Leadership Team, advisory board member at several universities, IBM Champion, professor, and consulting specialist for the Binghamton University ES2 Research Center.

With the addition of Rivers and Santalucia, 21CS strengthens its commitment to advancing the IBM Z ecosystem and developing the next generation of mainframe talent.

Contact:

21CS Marketing
marketing@21cs.com

SOURCE: 21CS