Verne Global is expanding its senior leadership team with three key appointments: Mike Allen as Chief Operating Officer; Kate Hennessy as Chief Financial Officer; and Hildegard van Zyl as General Counsel.
As part of Digital 9 Infrastructure plc' s (D9) portfolio of critical digital infrastructure assets, Verne Global’s northern European data center platform has experienced significant growth, and now includes five data campuses in Iceland, London and Finland. These new senior leaders will help support future growth with the company seeing strong demand for more sustainable data center solutions.
Mike Allen joins Verne Global as its new COO and will be responsible for optimising the organisation’s operational capabilities and implementing business strategies. Allen is a data center industry veteran, predominantly in the financial services sector. He has spent the last 20 years between Goldman Sachs and, more recently, JPMorgan Chase, where he was Global Head of Data Center Services.
Kate Hennessy joins the company as its new CFO. She will manage the finances of Verne Global’s expanding data center portfolio, using her experience to draw out the synergies and economies of scale across the company’s different locations. Hennessy’s career spans telecoms and digital infrastructure, having spent the last 15 years working for Liquid Intelligent Technologies as both CFO and Chief of Mergers and Acquisitions, where she raised funding for and operated fibre networks and data centers across the African continent.
Hildegard van Zyl joins as the company’s first General Counsel and will support Verne Global in its commitment to sustainability. Van Zyl brings a wealth of IT and legal tech experience, having worked for Amazon and later Atos, and having completed a range of multi-million dollar deals across the world, in both public and private sectors. She holds a BA in French and Philosophy and an LLB from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and is admitted to the New York Bar.
“We are delighted that Mike, Kate and Hildegard join us at such at an exciting time, bringing with them considerable experience and diverse skills to the Verne Global team. They will play pivotal roles as we meet growing demand for sustainable data center solutions across our campuses in Iceland, London and Finland,” said Dominic Ward, CEO, Verne Global.
