Investment Forum | New York // Agenda

View the 2026 agenda

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8:00 a.m.

8:50 a.m.

  • DCD Investment Forum 2026 Welcome Remarks

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    DCD

    DatacenterDynamics is the world's largest data center publication. We publish news, magazine features, and podcasts about the hyperscale & cloud, colocation & wholesale, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, Edge computing, investment and REITs, data center companies, and more.

    Speakers

    Dan Davey

    Chief Strategy Officer, DCD

    Thomas Buckley

    Thomas Buckley

    Portfolio Manager - Investment, DCD

9:00 a.m.

  • Opening Fireside Chat: Perspectives on the digital infrastructure investment cycle

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
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    Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, real estate, private equity and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to advance our stakeholders’ long-term goals by providing flexible capital to support businesses and create value for our investors and communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of September 30, 2025, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had over $595 billion of assets under management, with operations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.

    Speakers

    Michael Steele

    Partner, Head of Digital Infrastructure, Ares Management

9:20 a.m.

10:10 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

11:00 a.m.

  • Panel: Breaking the power barrier - strategies to fuel data centers' next decade of growth

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
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    Speakers

    Josh Pang

    Josh Pang

    Head of Digital Infrastructure, Apollo

    Eric Wittleder

    Eric Wittleder

    Managing Director, Investments, Brookfield

    Jason Zhang

    Co-Founder & President, Applied Digital

    Jesse Burros

    Chief Investment Officer, Switch

    Camarin Madigan

    Firmwide Co-Chair, Data Centers & Digital Infrastructure, Perkins Coie

11:50 a.m.

12:10 p.m.

  • Panel: How are investment strategies adapting to the acceleration of artificial intelligence?

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
    Deloitte 228x114

    Behind every AI breakthrough is smart data center strategy, and behind the most complex data center investments is Deloitte.

    As the AI economy accelerates demand for digital infrastructure at unprecedented scale, Deloitte brings integrated, end-to-end capability across the full data center life cycle from capital strategy, site selection, and power procurement through AI-ready architecture and ongoing operations. Our multidisciplinary teams span consulting, tax, M&A advisory, cybersecurity, and sustainability, serving hyperscalers, colocation operators, PE-backed platforms, and enterprise developers.

    We help clients move from blueprint to uptime - with speed and certainty.

    Speakers

    Quynh Tran

    Quynh Tran

    Deputy Head, Global Structured Finance, Americas and Head, Infrastructure Finance, NA, SMBC

    Greg Wright

    Chief Investment Officer, Digital Realty

    Andrew Thomas

    Andrew Thomas

    Senior Managing Director, Stonepeak

    Micah Bible

    Private Equity Infrastructure Leader, Deloitte

    Sharif Metwalli

    Chief Financial Officer, Vantage Data Centers

1:00 p.m.

  • Investment Forum Networking Lunch

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
    BSP Technical Advisors logo (1)

    BSP is the leading digital infrastructure M&A technical advisor and due diligence specialist – having completed over 140 data center and network projects for over 75 clients including Ares, Brookfield, Carlyle, CPPIB, DIF, Grain, Macquarie, Novacap, Palistar, Sixth Street and Stonepeak. For example, BSP advised OIC on DartPoints, Tallvine Partners on TRG Datacenters, Evocative Data Centers, T-Mobile on Metronet, BlackRock on Gigapower and DigitalBridge on WOW. The team consists of former operator executives.

    For more information, please visit www.bspdd.com.
    bank st.349x175

    Bank Street provides insightful and objective advice to help our corporate and institutional clients achieve their financial and strategic goals. We are a private investment banking firm primarily serving growth companies in the communications, media and technology sectors with a comprehensive array of services, including Merger & Acquisition Advisory, Debt and Equity Financing, and Restructuring Advisory.

1:58 p.m.

2:00 p.m.

  • Roundtable 1B: Energy - How are operators and investors navigating energy bottlenecks?

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
    Ascend (1)

    Ascend Analytics delivers market intelligence and analytics that help organizations make confident, data-driven power procurement and risk-management decisions.The company’s offerings enable corporate energy buyers, utilities, and developers by quantifying value, exposure, and opportunity across renewable, storage, and conventional assets. From real-time operations through 30-year planning horizons, Ascend’s forecasts inform more than $50 billion in project financing and procurement evaluations.Ascend provides energy market stakeholders with the clarity and confidence to successfully navigate the rapidly shifting energy landscape.

    Speakers

    Pierre Maitre

    SVP of Corporate Development and Strategy, EdgeConneX

    Gary Dorris

    CEO, Ascend Analytics

    Fentress Boyse

    Fentress Boyse

    Senior Investment Leader, Infrastructure, Partners Group

    Chuck McBride

    Chairman & CEO, Atmosphere Data Centers

    Xiao Tsai

    Director, GI Partners

  • Roundtable 1C: International Investment - which global markets offer the largest returns?

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session

    Speakers

    Tony Rossabi

    Chief Executive Officer, OCOLO

    Obinna Isiadinso

    Global Sector Lead, Data Centers & Cloud, International Finance Corporation

    Doug Powers

    Principal, KKR

    Diana Liu

    Principal, Blue Owl

    James Raddings

    James Raddings

    Digital Portfolio Lead, DCD

  • Roundtable 1A: Financing - Future financing strategies for stabilised datacenter assets

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session

    Speakers

    Syed Usman Ahmed

    Managing Director, Apterra Infrastructure Capital

    Cecile Baker

    Cecile Baker

    Managing Director, TD Securities

    Robert Gutman

    Robert Gutman

    SVP Capital Markets and Investor Relations, Compass Datacenters

    David Strauss

    David Strauss

    Principal & Co-founder, BSP Technical Advisors

2:50 p.m.

  • 10 Minute Break

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session

2:58 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

  • Roundtable 2B: Edge - How is the edge market expanding in the US?

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session

    Speakers

    Lawrence Vo

    VP, M&A, Csquare

    Scott Willis

    President and CEO, DartPoints

    Miles Loo

    Executive Vice Chairman, Newmark

    Charlie Dankner

    CSO, 365 Data Centers

    Hunter Newby

    Chairman & CEO, Newby Ventures

    Chea Hart

    Chea Hart

    Principal, DigitalBridge

  • Roundtable 2C: How on-site generation is redefining data center site selection

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
    full_logo_1_social_media

    Broadwaters Digital (“Broadwaters”) focuses on developing scalable, mission-critical infrastructure to power the expanding needs of AI, cloud platforms, and enterprise technologies.

    Speakers

    Ron Gusek

    Ron Gusek

    CEO, Liberty Energy

    Taylor Malfitano

    Founder and Managing Principal, Broadwaters Digital

    Anita Gorny-Moloney

    Anita Gorny-Moloney

    Portfolio Director, DCD

    Gene Alessandrini

    EVP, Chief Development Officer, CyrusOne

    Usman Khan

    Usman Khan

    Vice President, Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs

  • Roundtable 2A: Risk & Return - New paths, players, and the power of partnerships

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
    3. aon_logo_LQ (1)

    Our world has become more volatile, economically, socially and geopolitically, than ever before. In an interconnected and interdependent world, organizations and individuals are under constant pressure to make complex business decisions, sometimes without all the necessary facts, and almost always at speed. In this challenging economic and social environment, organizations are asking themselves two fundamental questions: How do I protect against risk and volatility? How do I grow my organization and realize the potential of my workforce?


    At Aon, we’ve been on a decade-plus journey to connect our global capabilities, so we can address our clients’ top priorities more effectively. Through our global expertise across two key areas of need ― Risk Capital and Human Capital ― our clients are better advised within, and across, their risk and people strategies. United as one firm, we help our clients shape business decisions for the better.

    We believe that businesses thrive when the communities they serve and the people they employ also flourish. We provide our clients with the advice and solutions that give them the clarity and confidence to make better decisions to protect and grow their business. Our collaborative approach ensures every Aon client is better informed, better advised and able to make better decisions that protect and grow their business.

    Speakers

    Caroline St. Clair

    Data Center Practice Leader for North America, Aon

    Scott McBride

    Partner, Northampton Capital Partners

    Greg Stamas

    Greg Stamas

    Partner, 26North

    James Raddings

    James Raddings

    Digital Portfolio Lead, DCD

    Joe Bush

    Joe Bush

    Vice President, Investments & Capital Formation, Edged

3:50 p.m.

4:10 p.m.

  • Panel: Are current data center growth projections sustainable?

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
    mdy_ratings_rgb_MoodysBlue (1) (1)

    As a leading global provider of credit ratings and research, Moody’s Ratings offers valuable insights into financial stability and creditworthiness for organizations, debt instruments, and securities.

    Speakers

    Raul Martynek

    CEO, DataBank

    Jim Hempstead

    Managing Director, Moody’s Ratings

    Sara Baack

    Sara Baack

    Founding Partner, Snowhawk

    Ryan Mallory

    CEO, Flexential

    Sam Southall

    Sam Southall

    Managing Director, Macquarie Group

5:00 p.m.

  • DCD Investment Forum Networking Drinks - Hosted by Deloitte

    • Investment Forum Main Stage
    • Investment & Markets
    • Open Session
    Deloitte 228x114

    Behind every AI breakthrough is smart data center strategy, and behind the most complex data center investments is Deloitte.

    As the AI economy accelerates demand for digital infrastructure at unprecedented scale, Deloitte brings integrated, end-to-end capability across the full data center life cycle from capital strategy, site selection, and power procurement through AI-ready architecture and ongoing operations. Our multidisciplinary teams span consulting, tax, M&A advisory, cybersecurity, and sustainability, serving hyperscalers, colocation operators, PE-backed platforms, and enterprise developers.

    We help clients move from blueprint to uptime - with speed and certainty.

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