Data Centre Alliance elects industry senior names to Board of Governors

Announcing the new appointments Date Centre Alliance (DCA) President Steven Norris (himself a former UK member of Parliament who held the position of Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Departments of Trade & Industry, Environment and Home Office) said, “In just two years the Data Centre Alliance has grown from being the brainchild of Simon Campbell-Whyte and Steve Hone to the highly respected industry representative body it now is.

“As such it is fitting that some of the most senior people in the industry should decide to give freely of their time and expertise to grow the DCA’s scope and influence wider and indeed globally. DCA has achieved several major milestones this year including the first ever government research funding – by the European Union – for project PEDCA. DCA has also launched the somewhat secret world of data centres, and their importance to society, to the public and businesses with two major special reports in conjunction with The New Statesman, a major international political and business publication.

Those taking up posts on the DCA Board of Governors are:

Adriaan Oosthoek - DCA Chairman
Adriaan is Colt’s European Executive Vice President of Data Centre Services. He has worked in the data centre industry for 12 years and brings to the DCA a deep understanding of the colocation and wholesale data centre markets. He was also formerly UK Managing Director of Telecity Group.

Professor Dennis Kehoe – DCA Vice Chairman
Dennis is CEO of AIMES Grid Services and previously was Saxby Professor and Royal Academy of Engineering Research Professor at the University of Liverpool. He is also a non-executive director with a number of technology start-up and spin-out businesses.

Dennis continues a second term as Vice Chairman where his experience and expertise in major government funded R&D projects is invaluable. Future R&D funding for the industry, will remain a key focus for Dennis within the DCA.

Andrew Jay – DCA Senior Vice President for Governments and Policy
Andrew is Executive Director with international property and real-estate advisors CBRE where he runs the world’s largest data centre real-estate advisory team and publishes regular industry research reports.

Andrew will lead a drive against Governments’ mis-aligned policies and financial incentives.

Matt Pumfrey – DCA Senior Vice President for the DCA Technical Council
Matt is CEO of Smart Carbon Control and a director of Get-Smarter Energy. Formerly also with Serco, he has over 15 years experience in the telecoms and technology sector.

Matt takes board responsibility for the DCA’s technical council and committees. His role will be to oversee the work of these groups and to establish further technical groups in line with the ever changing needs of the industry.

Rob Coupland – Senior Vice President for Training and Skills
Rob, is managing director at TelecityGroup and formerly with both NTL and Cable & Wireless. He brings 15 years plus years of experience to his new position on the DCA Board of Governors.

In his new role, Rob will build on his involvement with the recent DCA Graduate Bootcamp to establish firm links into schools, universities and commercial training organisations - to ensure that the data centre industry can avoid the currently forecast skills shortage. Coupland’s appointment complements TelecityGroup’s corporate initiatives to facilitate apprenticeships in the technology sector throughout Europe.

Andrew Green – DCA Senior Vice President for New Markets
Basing himself between London and Hong Kong; Andrew is a director at PTS Consulting. He joins the Board to spearhead the DCA’s expansion as representative body around the world.

He joins with pan-European DCA establishment well underway thanks to project PEDCA. He will focus on the need to establish DCA Chapters in the world’s major data centre locations to ensure that the DCA is fully representative of the industry for it’s members throughout the globe.

Ciaran Flanagan – Vice President
Ciaran is head of EMEA data centre initiatives for technology giant ABB and was previously head of data centre strategy with Nokia as well as roles with Intel and Verari Systems.

Ciaran joins the Board of Governors to make his supply-side experience available in a consultative capacity.

Nominations Invited
Three further Senior Vice Presidents (SVP) posts on the DCA Board of Governors have been announced and nominations are invited from experienced senior individuals prepared to give their time and expertise for the good of the industry. They are:
· SVP for Standards and Certification
· SVP for Legal Affairs
· SVP for Investment and Funding
· SVP for Germany

Nominations can be submitted via this link http://turt.co/dca31