DCD Awards 2026 // Meet the Judges

Sarah Davey is the Director of EMEA Digital Infrastructure within Equinix's Global Design and Construction team. With a degree in mechanical engineering, Sarah has dedicated the past decade to the data centre industry, where she has excelled in various roles. Her experience ranges from mission-critical consultancy to leading multi-disciplinary design delivery teams on new build and expansion projects at Equinix, all while achieving professional chartership. Highly skilled in stakeholder management, project controls, and diverse engineering aspects of data centres, Sarah currently oversees connectivity, digital infrastructure, and network deployments across the EMEA portfolio. She is an active contributor to industry initiatives, frequently participating in conference panels and serving as a returning judge for the DCD Global Awards, where she was honoured as the Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year in 2019.

Passionate about collaboration and effective communication, Sarah is committed to empowering her peers to succeed in teamwork, project delivery, and their career journeys. In addition to her professional responsibilities, she leads an employee team representing the UK business, focusing on creating events and opportunities that promote belonging for all. This initiative encompasses key pillars of diversity, inclusion, belonging, wellbeing, and community impact. Currently, Sarah is also spearheading an internal women's network within the global design and construction team, aimed at connecting, empowering, and educating women on their career paths in engineering, construction, and the data centre industry.

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Passionate about digital infrastructure and its impact on business resilience, sustainability, and innovation, Jhon Zavala brings more than 25 years of experience across data center design, construction, commissioning, operations, cloud infrastructure, and mission-critical environments.

Throughout his career, he has led multidisciplinary initiatives spanning data center modernization, private cloud transformation, infrastructure operations, business continuity, and energy efficiency programs. His experience combines strategic leadership with hands-on technical expertise across electrical, mechanical, IT, and operational domains.

Jhon has participated in the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of mission-critical facilities and has managed large-scale infrastructure programs with investments exceeding USD 50 million. His professional background includes data centers, cloud platforms, operating systems, networking, structured cabling, power systems, cooling systems, fire protection, security, and infrastructure governance.

He currently serves as Chapter Leader for Private Cloud Infrastructure at Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP), one of Latin America’s leading financial institutions, where he is responsible for the stability, efficiency, security, and evolution of critical infrastructure platforms supporting essential business services.

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Sophia is a Chartered Engineer who has worked as an engineering consultant on a variety of projects in several countries, delivering data centre design, commissioning, training and risk and energy assessments. She has worked alongside operations teams to help clients to manage their critical environments. Her experience includes developing low energy data centre cooling solutions, creating analytical and reporting tools, leading teams and business development. Sophia’s contributions to the digital infrastructure sector were recognised in 2020 when she received an Infrastructure Masons IM100 Award. She is an active participant of various industry groups on data centre sustainability and publishes and presents work in this area.

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I joined Microsoft in July 2020 as a DCOM in Austria. Previously, I worked as Head of Global Data Centers at REPSOL, leading relevant projects such as relocation, monitoring as well as the design and implementation of the global DC strategy.

I can say that my entire professional career has revolved around Data Centers in different positions and areas, encompassing international experience, mainly in Europe but also in South and North America, and APAC, which has allowed me to work in a multidisciplinary environment.

I believe in teamwork, a proactive and positive mindset, and the beauty of imperfection.

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With over 12 years of real estate research, pricing and acquisition strategy, consumer analytics and data centre experience, Priyanka holds a reputation as an ethical and reliable advisor in the corporate real estate domain across the region. She has an extensive skill set specific to data centre advisory, with over five years of dedicated experience working on data center projects.

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Belinda Dennett is a highly respected public policy specialist with more than 20 years experience at the forefront of Australia’s digital economy and technology ecosystem. She is Chief Executive Officer of Data Centres Australia, the peak body for data centres and the AI infrastructure sector in Australia.

Belinda was previously Head of Government Relations at AirTrunk and earlier spent more than a decade leading Microsoft’s Australian Corporate Affairs and Policy team. Belinda is a former Federal ministerial advisor with a focus on digital economy policy. She has qualifications in law and business.

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Dave leads Bloomberg's Global Facilities, Infrastructure and Sustainability teams - with an acute focus on the ‘team’ to deliver service and resiliency, efficiently, in theirr hyper-critical, premier service environments. The environments span their award winning workplaces and data centers.

Dave has over 20 years experience at Bloomberg, an executive MBA from Cornell, and is on the board of directors of HEAF (Harlem Educational Activities Fund), an educational non profit for the underserved; he also mentors Fortune Society fellows - a group that supports the previously justice involved. Dave is also the Chair of the iMasons NY Chapter.

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Joe is a Principal Consultant at STL Partners, with a background in technology strategy & implementation, spanning infrastructure, platforms and software. Since joining STL Partners, he has led strategic engagements with digital infrastructure firms ranging from corporate strategy for a telecoms holdco through to market analysis of data centre construction and connectivity. Joe leads STL's data centre practice and holds a BA in Economics from Durham University.

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Andrew is an Executive Director within the Global Corporate Services division based in London. He is head of the EMEA Data Centres team which is the World’s largest data centre real estate advisory group.

He is recognised as one of Europe’s leading advisors to the data centre industry and  benefits from in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the technical real estate market including development, leasing and corporate data centre dynamics.

Andrew is responsible for the unique research provided by CBRE into the Global Carrier Neutral Data Centre market and is a regular speaker at numerous conferences including Data Centre Dynamics, Data Centres Europe and Gartner.

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Ben is the Senior Editor at SDxCentral. A seasoned tech journalist, he has previously written for AI Business, Capacity Media, and IPPro Magazine, among others.

Got a tip? [email protected]

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As Senior Vice President of Data Center Design & Engineering, Karen oversees the planning and execution of data center projects in her portfolio. She brings almost two decades of multidisciplinary expertise, having successfully managed complex sustainable data center design and engineering projects, including campus developments, hyperscale built-to-suits, and major infrastructure renovations. As a sustainability SME, Karen was recently honored by the Green Building Initiative (GBI) as its 2024 Member of the Year for her exceptional dedication to improving the built environment. Before joining PowerHouse, Karen served as director of design for Digital Realty Trust, where she was responsible for the quality of the organization’s designs and processes.  

Karen actively contributes to the data center industry as the president of the local 7x24 DC Chapter, as a Green Building Initiative’s Better Buildings Advisory Committee member, a committee member with the Data Center Coalition, and an Editorial Advisory Board Member at Data Center Frontier. She also won "GBI Member of the Year" in 2024 and appeared at no.42 on Data Centre Magazine's Top 100 Women List. Additionally, she supports and champions nonprofits that aim to increase STEM participation among local youth. Beyond her professional life, Karen is dedicated to exploring the philosophical and socio-economic dimensions of data, contemplating how it impacts our daily lives and shapes the future of our globalized society.

Karen is a LEED Accredited Professional and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & Government and a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Virginia Tech, along with industry certifications from CNet Training/Uptime Institute and Data Center Dynamics.

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David McCall is the Brand Evangelist for QTS Data Centers and the host of The QTS Experience, a podcast where technology meets humanity. With over 25 years in the IT and data center industry, David has led national product and solution engineering teams and now dedicates his career to telling the stories behind the infrastructure that powers our world. As an evangelist-connector, David blends curiosity, reflective listening, and purposeful storytelling to help audiences see what’s often invisible — how the infrastructure of data connects the infrastructure of life. His work bridges technical depth with human purpose, turning complex ideas about power, connectivity, and AI into conversations about community, creativity, and human flourishing. David believes that data centers aren’t just buildings filled with servers — they’re modern cathedrals of innovation. They safeguard the planet’s information, enable opportunity, and empower people to flourish in the digital age. His mission is to foster community across industries and ideologies through curiosity, shared laughter, and meaningful dialogue about the world we’re building together.

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Graduado em Engenharia Elétrica e Eletrônica e possui MBA em Gestão Empresarial pela Fundação Getulio Vargas; e MBA em Administração, Finanças e Geração de Valor pela PUC-RS (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul). Também possui certificações como ATS (Acredited Tier Specialist) pela Uptime Institute e DCS (Data Center Specialist Operations) pela Data Center Professional.

Com mais de 25 anos de experiência em Data Centers, atua como instrutor do curso de Critical Operations Professional e Business Continuity Management na DatacenterDynamics, ministrando dezenas de cursos no Brasil e em toda América Latina na área de gestão de missão crítica. É Conselheiro da Diretoria técnica da ABDC – Associação Brasileira de Data Center.

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Darren is Managing Director of DCD’s education business - DCD Academy, a leading global provider of mission critical learning and development services to the data center industry . 

Darren was previously leader of Learning and Development at SoftwareONE, Capita, Bureau Veritas and SGS and has in-depth experience of the full learning and talent development lifecycle and understands how L&D is integral to impact the wider strategic objectives of organisations.

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Scott Charter has spent over 30 years in the IT industry, including business development roles with data service providers, as well as co-founding several IT start-ups that were acquired by larger firms. His current focus includes leading AI enablement sessions with Oracle sales teams and partners. Simplifying complex technical concepts into plain language is a large part of this role. Scott holds a JD from University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, and a bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University.

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Ehsaan Farsimadan is a Senior Manager of Colocation Engineering for EMEA at AWS, responsible for leading the expansion of the Colocation Engineering organization, team scaling, including design and life cycle engineering of all AWS Colo data centers in EMEA. Prior to this, Ehsaan was a Senior Consultant at Uptime Institute, responsible for data center design and facility Tier certifications, in addition to being an ATD course instructor. He also worked for companies offering digital twin modelling for data center energy and cost performance, including M&E design consultancy early in his career. Ehsaan is a chartered engineer accredited by the IMechE, and he obtained his doctorate (PhD) in Mechanical Engineering Turbulence Research in 2008.

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Azzurra Catterino, MBA is a renowned strategic leader with extensive experience in market intelligence, competitive analysis, and business strategy within the data center industry. Serving 16 years at Schneider Electric as a senior strategist, she has helped drive double-digit growth through data-driven market forecasting and competitive insights. With a strong background in M&A and global market modeling, she understands first-hand the importance of reliable intelligence when shaping corporate strategies. As an avid user of market intelligence platforms throughout her career, Azzurra now leads the customer strategy team for DCD Intelligence to ensure the platform meets the needs of all industry players.

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Peter Judge is a Senior Research Analyst at the Uptime Institute.

Previously he was the executive editor at Datacenter Dynamics. He has been involved with tech B2B publishing in the UK for many years, working at Ziff-Davis, ZDNet, IDG, and Reed.

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Susanna Kass was recognized by DCD for A Lifetime Achievement Award for Digital Infrastructure and she is a DCD Award judge. She is recognized of her design as a Global 100 Game Changer for AI Digital Infrastructure, a Climate 50 Trailblazer, and is ranked 1st in the Top 10 Women in Data Centers in the U.S.(2026-2023), and in the Top 10 Global Data Centers worldwide (2026-2024) and is one of the Top 10 Data Center Influencers on LinkedIn (2026-2021). For over 30 years, Susanna led more than 4.8 gigawatts of clean energy data center projects across 20 countries as a clean energy inventor and global Data Center operations executive. Susanna is an inventor holding patents and is featured in publications on Amazon Press as a Best-Selling Author and in Times, WSJ, Forbes, Inc. CIO, TEDx, and Data Center magazines. She led new ventures to billions from the ground up in her role as COO at eBay International, General Manager of HP Asia Pacific Data Center Operation, VP of Global Data Center Business Operations at Sun Microsystems/Oracle, Head of Innovation and Development at NextEra Energy, EVP Sustainability and Development at Baselayer I/O with Fortune 500 clients: Goldman Sachs, Citi, BofA, Walmart, GE, hyperscale cloud content providers AWS, Google, Meta-Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Akamai, with numerous electric utilities.

Susanna is a Data Center Advisor to UNSDG-EP, an Energy Fellow and lecturer at Stanford University, and a Board Member of Stanford University Graduate School of Business Women’s Circle. Susanna is currently an Operating Partner at Digital Gravity Infrastructure Partner, Senior Advisor to AI Infra funds, a co-founder at InfraPrime℠, a Net Zero Switzerland startup funded by The European Union for Clean Energy Transition. Her Net Zero designs in AI Factory deliver code freeze of reference architecture deployments to live production in 90 days with net-positive results towards the transition to a carbon-free future and concurrently greening the grids with net energy generation to scale the growth of accelerated computing; her vision is to promote human safety, alleviate poverty, and advance sustainability environmental stewardship for the Digital Infrastructure sector.

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A proven executive and community builder, Quiñones brings more than 15 years of experience leading global businesses and partnering with senior leaders across the technology and infrastructure ecosystem to her role.

Prior to becoming CEO of iMasons, Quiñones held leadership positions at Schneider Electric, where she oversaw the strategic direction and operations of a $300M global business. Her career has consistently focused on translating high-level vision into operational execution, balancing growth with purpose at scale. As CEO, she will guide iMasons into its next chapter by focusing efforts on key industry challenges of time to power, industry perception, people resource shortages, industry decarbonization efforts to protect the planet and critical policy work to deliver on the largest growth demands in the history of digital infrastructure.

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Vlad-Gabriel Anghel is Director of Solutions Engineering at our sister training company, DCD>Academy. He is a tinkerer at heart and a problem solver by trade, with a deep passion for all things tech, especially computer networks and distributed systems.

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Rebecca Weekly is the CTO of the JCohen Group and a Tech Fellow for BRK Tech, where she oversees technology strategy and execution for 6 portfolio companies and more broadly across the portfolio for hybrid cloud and sovereign AI solutions. Previously she led Infrastructure and Platform Engineering for GEICO through its hybrid cloud transformation, and before ran the full Infrastructure lifecycle for Cloudflare's compute, network, storage and AI systems across 300+ cities and 100+ countries. A former Open Compute Project President and Chairperson, she was named to Fortune's 40 under 40 in Technology, Business Insider's Cloudverse100, and Data Centre Magazine's Top 100 Women in Data Centres in 2025 and 2026. Outside of work she's the lead singer of funk and soul band Sinister Dexter, and an MIT graduate in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

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Lon Huber serves as Senior Vice President of Integrated System Planning and Chief Planning Officer for Xcel Energy, where he leads the company’s modeling, standards, and system planning groups. In this role, he ensures Xcel is designing a grid for the future and prepared for the rapidly evolving energy landscape. Previously, Lon held leadership roles at Duke Energy across economic development/large customers, rates, regulatory, wholesale, and distributed energy resources. Lon has received numerous awards for his innovative solutions to the electricity industry’s most pressing challenges, including the Energy Storage Association’s top honor, Public Utilities Fortnightly’s John Beggs award, and Utility Dive’s Innovator of the Year.

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Douglas Mouton is a global expert in hyperscale data center infrastructure, with over 30 years leading design, construction, and delivery at Microsoft, Meta, and Jacobs Solutions. A decorated U.S. Army Colonel (Retired), Doug has commanded units of up to 3,000 personnel and led recovery efforts in Afghanistan and post-Katrina Louisiana. At Microsoft, he scaled global delivery to over 1 GW/year, halved costs and delivery times, and established best-in-class safety programs. At Meta, he drove design innovations, cutting carbon and costs by 40%. Doug now advises top firms through Mouton Advisory Services, offering strategic insight into digital infrastructure, AI impacts, and sustainability. He serves on the Board of Riot Platforms and Qnect and advises Fidelis New Energy and BlackRock. A sought-after speaker and recognized industry influencer, Doug holds architecture and strategic studies degrees, and numerous leadership and design credentials.

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Dan Golding Chief Technology Officer and Partner Appleby Strategy Group Dan Golding is one of the world's leading experts at data center and network engineering, business development, and operations. He has a 25-year career focused on building Internet, Cloud, and AI/ML infrastructure for enterprises, colocation providers, hyperscale clouds, and the emerging AI ecosystem. Dan recently left a long career at Google where he was the only Google Engineering Director to be a part of both the Google Global Networking and Google Data Centers Advanced Technology Innovation teams. He's been a technical lead on the design, engineering and build teams responsible for over $25b of datacenters - thousands of megawatts. He's also a leader in data center leasing, having negotiated, sold, performed due diligence, or signed over $600m of wholesale data center lease deals. Prior to joining Google, Dan was the Vice President of Operations and Engineering at Iron Mountain Data Centers, and before that, RagingWire Data Centers (now NTT Data Centers). Dan was the sector's leading industry analyst and investment banker at Gartner for Technical Professionals, Tier 1 Research (451 Group) and DH Capital. Dan was one of the earliest engineering leaders at groundbreaking Internet service providers like AOL, Mindspring, and Earthlink. Dan is the former Chairman of NANOG and former vice-Chairman and co-founder of Open-IX. He is frequently credited as the co-founder of Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley in Ashburn. Dan's three most significant innovations have been the popularization of the now dominant Donut model of Internet interconnection which supplanted the former Tier-n model of interconnect; the most historically advantageous Ashburn, VA data center land deal - NTT's 100 acre campus in the middle of Ashburn for $20m in 2012 - land with an objective value of $500m; and the development of engineering continuous improvement techniques to vastly accelerate deployments in hyperscale data centers by factors of 5x or more. Dan has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from Auburn University, and a Master of Science Degree in Telecommunications Engineering from George Mason University. He is a graduate of the US Navy's Nuclear Power School.

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Anuja Ratnayake is the Emerging Technologies Executive at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). In her current role, she leads several initiatives, including the DCFlex project which is focused on exploring large data center potential to become a grid resource. Prior to EPRI, Anuja spent two decades with Duke Energy focused on strategy and resource planning. 

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Brian M. Smith is the Chief Technology Officer for Nuclear Science and Technology at Idaho National Laboratory. He leads the laboratory’s strategy for accelerating the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors and fuel cycle technologies, enabling the nation’s leadership in nuclear innovation. He joined INL after a 20-year career in government in which he served in key positions in the Executive and Legislative branches, with experience in defense and commercial nuclear technology and policy. A career member of the federal Senior Executive Service, Mr. Smith acted as the Department of Energy’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors, and as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. Prior to that, he served as a Professional Staff Member on the House Appropriations Committee, with oversight responsibilities for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, nuclear environmental cleanup, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and various other energy and national security functions. In previous Executive Branch assignments, Mr. Smith served as the Acquisition Director for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and as NNSA’s acting Deputy Associate Administrator for Management. He also held executive leadership roles with Naval Reactors, a joint Department of Energy / Department of the Navy program responsible for all aspects of naval nuclear propulsion. During his tenure, Mr. Smith participated in multiple interagency reviews to scope and execute the modernization of the nation’s nuclear deterrent. Mr. Smith is a retired Commander in the US Navy, with active and reserve assignments in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, and on the staff of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. He holds a B.A. from the University of Central Florida and an M.S. from the George Washington University.

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Rishab Vardhan is an accomplished engineering and operations leader recognized for driving large-scale innovation across data center, automation, and logistics infrastructures. With global experience spanning Oracle, Amazon, and AWS, he has led transformative programs exceeding $100B in value and delivered measurable advances in efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.

At Oracle, Rishab leads networking product strategy for Project Stargate, shaping next-generation cloud infrastructure. Previously at Amazon, he redefined its global supply chain - reducing delivery times from days to hours and boosting capacity by up to 70%. At AWS, he spearheaded the adoption of liquid cooling and implemented sustainabe technologies across 400+ data centers in 25+ countries and setting new industry benchmarks.

An IIT-Madras and Purdue University graduate, Rishab is also an active startup mentor and investor, supporting early-stage ventures across India and the US.

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I have over 28 years of solid experience in the technology industry, with a proven track record of success in leading and managing large-scale projects, as well as in cost optimization and customer service improvement. For the past 18 years, I have specialized in the planning, implementation, and administration of data centers for leading market companies, including a notable 25-year career at IBM. With an MBA from Torcuato Di Tella University, for the last 3 years I was leading the business development for Scala Data Centers in the Latin American region. In 2024 I have founded Hyper DC Consulting Company.

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Driving sustainability and powering AI development, Jamie Hughes, Technical Director at Equans Data Centers, partners with hyperscale and colocation clients to deliver high-performance, low-carbon facilities across Europe.

Leveraging his extensive experience in the technical delivery of the data centre infrastructure, Jamie provides strategic technical leadership to support customers in an era of rapid digital and AI-driven transformation.

Working closely with our experts and supply chain partners throughout the full project lifecycle—bid, design, execution, and commissioning—he ensures seamless integration of technical interfaces. A strong advocate for innovation, Jamie promotes design to enable AI deployment and operational strategies that enhance resilience, performance, and efficiency. At the same time, he drives the adoption of low-carbon, energy-efficient solutions, reflecting our mission to decarbonise and strengthen the sustainability credentials of the global data centre sector.

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