Libsyn Directory

Tom Traugott

a Word With Ward

Ward Hampton speaks with Tom Traugott, SVP of Emerging Technologies at EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, about his journey from commercial real estate and carrier hotels to leading strategy for large-scale AI data-centre platforms. They discuss the industry’s shift toward gigawatt-scale AI campuses, the growing importance of power partnerships, liquid cooling, and sustainability, and how developers are rethinking scale, capital, and execution to meet the rising demands of the AI era.

Luke Kipfer

a Word With Ward

Ward Hampton sits down with Luke Kipfer, Managing Director of Development and Construction at PowerHouse Data Centers, for a look at one of the industry's most explosive growth stories. Luke shares his path from starting in the trades at 18 to joining PowerHouse three and a half years ago as a team of one managing 400MW, and now leading a 30-person team delivering over 6 gigawatts across the US with plans to double again in the next 12-16 months. He explains how PowerHouse leveraged parent company AREP's real estate DNA and flexible capitalization with partners like Blue Owl to rapidly scale....

JF Berche

a Word With Ward

Ward Hampton sits down with JF Berche, Chief Commercial Officer at Green Scale, to explore his journey from basketball player to cloud infrastructure pioneer. JF recounts his early days at AWS, his decade at Amazon and Microsoft, and how those experiences shaped his return to the sell side with Green Scale — a European data center company redefining capacity and sustainability. They discuss Green Scale’s “Scale for Good” and “Green Infrastructure” pillars, their upcoming 100MW site in Northern Ireland, and how AI is transforming data center design faster than the cloud revolution...

Svante Horn

a Word With Ward

Ward Hampton sits down with Svante Horn, co-founder of Scandinavian Data Centers (SDC), to discuss building one of the world's most circular data center platforms. Svante shares his journey from banking to data centers, explaining SDC's vision of "Data Center 3.0" - achieving near-100% heat reuse through district heating networks, using reserve power to stabilize grids, and deploying waste heat for greenhouse food production. He discusses securing their former WWII military facility, partnering with Balder for long-term growth, and why the industry needs to prioritize energy reuse over PUE...

Diarmid Massey

a Word With Ward

Ward Hampton talks with Diarmid Massey, CEO of ESR’s data center business, about his journey from rural England to leading data center expansion across Asia-Pacific. Diarmid shares how ESR is rapidly scaling in Japan, Korea, Australia, and India, leveraging local expertise and logistics roots. They discuss Asia’s massive growth potential, industry challenges around ESG and diversity, and the future of AI-driven infrastructure. A sharp look at the forces shaping Asia’s data center boom.

Tim Hughes

a Word With Ward

Ward Hampton interviews Tim Hughes from Stack Infrastructure about his unconventional journey from Target overnight shifts and punk rock bands to leading development at one of the data center industry's fastest-growing companies, discussing Stack's hiring philosophy, the "vaporware" problem plaguing the industry, and why human capital matters more than financial capital in project execution.

Oliver Schiebel

a Word With Ward

Oliver Schiebel is the CEO of hscale, a newly launched European data center platform backed by Bain Capital. Oliver is a 20+ year veteran of the telecommunications and data center industry who previously built the data center business for German utility Mainova, which recently saw a partial sale to BlackRock, and held senior roles at various data center providers including helping build Interxion's Frankfurt campus. In this episode, Oliver discusses hscale's ambitious European expansion strategy, launching with a gigawatt of development pipeline across Oslo, Milan,...

Bill Barney

a Word With Ward

Bill Barney, chairman of Asian Century Equity and co -founder and chairman of Modularity, a startup providing American -built modular edge data centers and modular cable landing station solutions, crossed fast -growing emerging markets. Bill previously founded and operated as CEO Asian Edge Data Center business, Turbidac, which he sold in 2023. Bill has an impressive non -executive director portfolio career advising PE investors such as EQT and Helios on their data center investments, as well as serving on a number of data center boards. Prior to this, he had an incredibly successful 25 -year...

Randy Brouckman

a Word With Ward

Randy Brauchman is the co-founder and CEO of EdgeConnex, leveraging over 30 years of experience in telecoms, software and data centres. Under his leadership, EdgeConnex has become a leading provider of innovative data centre solutions and was recognised as a top workplace of the year for two consecutive years. Before EdgeConnex, Randy was a partner and entrepreneur in residence at TDF Ventures and held key roles such as CTO, COO and CEO at companies including BSG Clearing Solutions and Iridium. His career began at Bellcore, where he advanced to Executive Director of Network Operations Systems...

Daniel Efrati

a Word With Ward

Daniel Efrati, CEO and co-founder of the NED Data Centers, which is creating the future of digital infrastructure in the Middle East. Daniel is a chartered accountant and former investment banking executive with experience in executing equity and debt placements and M&A transactions globally. Prior to founding Ned, he had been involved in over $250 million of data center M&A and financing deals.

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