Compute | New York // Welcome Panel: AI unleashed - Data, compute and the future of everything

Tarif is a veteran of over two decades in the data center space, with extensive experience in the design, development, construction, commissioning, deployment, maintenance and operation of data centers.

Prior to joining Flexnode, he was VP of Data Center Infrastructure at NTT Ltd. (Americas), where he deployed ground-breaking technologies in data centers to improve efficiencies and reduce carbon footprints, including the first use of solid oxide fuel cells running on biogas from cow manure to produce electricity at a data center, and the implementation of virtualized cooling, a project that won the Uptime Institute Green Enterprise IT award. Having built a solid core, he now gets his kicks living on the edge.

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Hands on technology executive with over 30 years of leadership in architectural definition, team building, engineering execution, and launch success. Results oriented with a strong track record of execution, incorporating many first to market IP elements. Track record of talent acquisition, development, and retention. Core Competencies: Cultivating innovation, execution planning/steering, tech partner relationships, and customer collaboration.

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Wellington Lordelo is the Global Director of AI and Innovation at Digital Realty, where he drives cutting-edge solutions that help enterprises and service providers harness the power of AI and data-driven strategies for digital transformation. With over 20 years of experience in IT and telecom, Wellington has a proven track record of collaborating globally with Fortune 500 companies on multi-cloud solutions, data center optimization, and enterprise strategy.
He holds the main certifications in Generative AI, Network and has spoken at numerous industry events across the Americas.

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Dr. Varun Sivaram is senior fellow for energy and climate at the Council on Foreign Relations and brings experience as a C-suite executive at two publicly listed companies, as a senior U.S. diplomat, and as a physicist with expertise in clean energy technologies. Dr. Sivaram served as chief strategy and innovation officer at Ørsted, a $25 billion Fortune Global 500 company that is the world’s largest producer of offshore wind energy. His teams executed several billion dollars in clean energy asset acquisitions, divestments, joint ventures, and structured financing products; developed the company’s strategic approach to build renewable energy across three continents; and launched Ørsted Ventures to invest in next-generation technologies. Earlier in his career, he served as chief technology Officer at ReNew Power, a publicly listed multibillion-dollar company that is India’s largest producer of renewable energy, and as a consultant at McKinsey & Co.

Dr. Sivaram served for the first two years of President Joe Biden’s administration in the White House and State Department as the managing director for clean energy and senior advisor to Secretary John Kerry, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. He created and led the First Movers Coalition, which President Biden called the flagship U.S. public-private partnership on climate. Dr. Sivaram has also served in state and local government as senior advisor to the mayor of Los Angeles and to the governor of New York.

A widely published scientist and innovation scholar, Sivaram has served on the faculty of Columbia University and Georgetown University and was also previously fellow and director of the energy and climate program at the Council on Foreign Relations. His books include Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet, Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission, and Digital Decarbonization: Promoting Digital Innovations to Advance Clean Energy Systems.

TIME Magazine named Sivaram to its TIME 100 Next list of the next hundred most influential people in the world, MIT Technology Review named him one of the top 35 innovators under 35, and the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader. His TED Talk on India's clean energy transition has been viewed more than one million times. Sivaram serves on the boards of the Atlantic Council, the Breakthrough Institute, and Aventurine Partners. A Rhodes and Truman Scholar, he holds a PhD in condensed matter physics from Oxford University, and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.

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George started his first technology publication in 1998, focused on the 'plumbing' of the Internet and has been building and connecting digital infrastructure communities all over the world,

George is fascinated by the sheer scale of the digital infrastructure that is yet to be built, one that will support AI and a new world of accelerated computing; it is 'mission critical' to the future of every industry and every person on the planet and must be done sustainably.

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