1. By all accounts, data centres are the ‘hottest asset class’ at the moment – why is there so much interest and investment in our industry?
In the past I feel like data centres have been the quiet backbone of the digital economy, operating diligently in the background to provide the resilience needed to seamlessly connect people across the world. As data becomes increasingly integral in everyday life, I believe our industry has become more well understood by the general population and is entering a much broader awareness than ever before. Coupling this with the continuing expansion of cloud and the huge potential of AI, there is a real buzz that is tangible with every conversation I have about digital infrastructure.
2. Why did you decide to join AtlasEdge?
Having started in the data centre sector back in 2011, I have been fortunate to witness the incredible evolution that our industry has experienced and how customer requirements have developed over that time. I don’t see that evolution letting up anytime soon and AtlasEdge struck me as having a unique foundation to be agile and responsive to future changes. I have also been hugely impressed by all the experienced team members that I have met so far and I’m excited to get to know the broader organisation as we look to the exciting journey ahead.
3. You’ve worked in a wide range of senior finance roles in your career – what would you say are the most important characteristics in leading a finance team?
Finance underpins so much of what makes a company successful, providing key insights for decision making and enabling opportunities for growth and expansion. It is vital that finance leadership clearly articulates how the actions of every team member directly contribute to those activities so that we feel collectively responsible and proud of the successes of the wider business. I also believe that humility plays a significant role in leadership, and I always seek to have a grounded approach to everything I do to ensure I have accurate self-reflection and hold myself and others accountable to our promises.
4. Biggest challenge and opportunity in the new role?
Customer demand is creating incredible opportunities for AtlasEdge, and I see those arising in all of the current and emerging markets that we’re serving. The associated challenge will be our ability to develop at the same speed so that we keep our commitments and deliver against all expectations. From a finance perspective, this means obtaining and maintaining a balanced portfolio of capital to fund our development pipeline and then controlling our P&L through effective procurement, management and reporting.
5. Outside of AtlasEdge, what might we find you doing?
If I’m not at home making crepes for my wife and two daughters then I can most likely be found on a mountain somewhere, either skiing down it or running up it!
About AtlasEdge
AtlasEdge is a leading European Edge data centre platform with operations across 12 countries. Our distributed data centre portfolio allows customers to plan and shape their technology and network infrastructure to meet the growing requirements for lower latency, higher performance and localized solutions. Established in 2021, AtlasEdge is backed by a joint investment from Liberty Global, a world leader in converged broadband, video and mobile communications and an active investor in cutting-edge infrastructure, content, and technology ventures, and DigitalBridge, a leading global investment firm dedicated to digital infrastructure. Our portfolio includes data centres in growing markets across Europe, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Hamburg, London, Leeds, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Paris, Vienna, and Zurich. In February 2023, AtlasEdge successfully acquired Datacenter One, in Germany, which includes state-of-the-art data centres in Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, and Leverkusen.