Despite being underrepresented in the data center sector, women are steadily breaking barriers and reshaping this traditionally male-dominated industry. One of the leaders is Sandy Xiao, president of Bridge Data Centres (BDC), who shares her journey, challenges, and vision for the future of the industry.

As president, Xiao holds a pivotal role: translating strategy into operating capacity across the Asia Pacific region, one of the most competitive markets for digital infrastructure. Her leadership is not only operational but also cultural, demonstrating how women can redefine success in technical and executive arenas.

Across the industry, more women are stepping into leadership roles across strategy, finance, and operations. The narrative is shifting from token representation to women owning large portfolios, leading technical programs, and influencing key business decisions. This momentum is transforming the culture of the sector, making decision-making more holistic, inclusive, and future-oriented.

“At the leadership level, women make up one-third of our executive management team. I have personally advocated for that balance, so our decision-making stays diverse, neutral, and grounded in fairness,” Xiao spells out.

A journey through strategy and delivery

Working her way up through finance and operations into large-scale digital infrastructure, Xiao’s career reflects a steady ascent across disciplines, including senior roles as president of Chindata Group and CFO at Shanghai Wangsu. These roles sharpened her ability to translate high-level strategy into expansion, particularly in the demanding data center sector. One of the most important lessons she learnt along the way was how to connect financial rigor with the realities of building physical infrastructure at scale.

Skills like careful budgeting, sustainable funding, and strong financial controls are essential, but real-world projects face unpredictable challenges, such as supply chain delays, land acquisition issues, political resistance, community needs, technical complexity, and sheer scale. Any one of these can derail a project if not managed with discipline, agility, and foresight.

“The real lesson was how to bridge the gap – making financial plans that actually work when you’re building massive real-world infrastructure projects,” explains Xiao.

Today, she shapes BDC’s commercial playbook, which includes setting capital priorities, driving cost-efficient delivery models, and embedding resilience and sustainability into every development decision.

In mission-critical industries like data centers, repeatability is a challenge. Every market has unique variables – land, power, water, regulatory frameworks, contractor ecosystems, and community engagement. Exact replication is near impossible, but finding core principles that anchor delivery is key.

“Across Asia, no two markets look the same. Success depends on understanding local nuances and building strong partnerships,” Xiao reflects, adding:

“The biggest lessons: hire people smarter than you, keep decisions data-informed, and never underestimate the power of clear communication – with both customers and regulators.”

Paving the way for future leaders

Compared with some Western markets where formal diversity programs have been established for years, parts of Asia are still catching up. Yet, the fast-growing demand from hyperscalers and investors is changing priorities.

“From my own experience, the gap is less about capability and more about visible pathways,” says Xiao.

Earlier in her career as CFO and later as a business lead, Xiao observed that many talented women in strategy and finance lacked clear entry points into technical or delivery roles. That realization now informs what she advocates for at BDC.

To create clearer pathways, she partners with local training bodies and industry groups to make technical careers more visible, practical, and – crucially – paid.

In the boardroom, she leverages her position to ensure hiring panels include diverse voices, apprenticeships and internships that ensure women get real engineering experience across various roles, and mentorship and sponsorship programs push talent from potential into promotion. Xiao’s approach reflects a broader philosophy that progress comes from rethinking everyday decisions, as she explains:

“By asking different questions, we make different choices. Those choices – from shift patterns to supplier selection to community training – are the quiet innovations that make BDC faster, greener, and fairer.”

This approach offers practical lessons for the wider industry, where intentional investments in school and university outreach get young women to see engineering as a viable career. Building paid pathways turns that interest into real opportunities through apprenticeships and rotational programs, and combining sponsorship with mentorship ensures women not only enter the pipeline but also progress into leadership roles.

“I believe the barrier is not talent – it is pathways,” Xiao affirms. “At BDC, we are focused on building the on-ramps – paid apprenticeships, mentorship, and visible career paths – so women move from promise to performance.”

Proving the model in practice

The impact of this approach is clear. As a trusted infrastructure partner to hyperscalers and large enterprises across Asia, BDC has built a reputation for combining campus-scale development with speed, efficiency, and reliability. Supported by experienced investors and a targeted APAC expansion strategy, the company is positioned to compete across both established and emerging markets.

Diverse perspectives, flexibility, and structured management are central to BDC’s model and shape how it develops new solutions. With a regional presence across Asia, BDC can adapt solutions to local needs while maintaining consistent quality.

“We’re trusted because we can deliver speed and scale, but also because we tailor solutions that let our customers grow the way they need to,” Xiao explains.

As BDC develops hyperscale-ready campuses and builds partnerships with governments and local communities, Xiao emphasizes that lasting success ultimately depends on people – and on engaging them with patience and empathy.

Xiao points to BDC’s MY06 campus in Johor – one of Malaysia’s largest data center developments. Delivering this project required close coordination with government agencies, utilities, and technology partners to secure power, water, and land at the necessary scale.

“That project reinforced for me that leadership in this sector isn’t just about the boardroom decisions – it’s about how effectively you mobilize an ecosystem to deliver. When you get the basics right, align with the right partners, and respect local dynamics, the business scales quickly and sustainably.”

In other words, building the right ecosystem is as critical as the engineering itself.

Collaboration as co-authorship

Reflecting on her leadership style, Xiao emphasizes seeing stakeholders as co-authors of a project, not just checkpoints to approve progress. This approach builds trust, keeps permits and partnerships on track, and helps accelerate delivery.

“I lead with listen-first clarity. For the business, that means setting clear outcomes, measuring what matters, and keeping a disciplined cadence – tight KPIs, financial rigor, and visible decision rights so teams move quickly without rework,” she explains, adding:

“For stakeholders – authorities, utilities, communities, and customers – it means early, transparent engagement: shared timelines, practical benefits like jobs, skills, and infrastructure upgrades, and regular check-ins so issues surface before they become risks.”

This balance of execution and collaboration informs BDC’s broader strategic vision for growth in Asia and beyond. At its core is sustainability – investing in and training tomorrow’s data center professionals, nurturing career growth for those already in the industry, and building hyperscale-ready campuses that are energy-efficient, water-conscious, and strategically located along connectivity corridors.

“Future-proof campuses, delivered with speed, sustainability, and scale – that’s the foundation of BDC’s growth vision in Asia,” Xiao affirms.

To the next generation

For the next wave of talent, building credibility in the data center industry requires more than technical expertise. Engaging in forums, networks, and industry resources not only earns recognition and respect but also broadens knowledge and sharpens perspective.

Peer networks within hyperscaler and operator communities, Xiao notes, are invaluable for exchanging insights and challenging assumptions.

“Industry conferences, cross-company working groups, government-industry task forces, and ecosystem media engagements all matter. And for bench strength, I value partnerships with local technology innovators and digital twin or AI firms that help us run safer, greener facilities,” Xiao explains.

Her message to the industry is clear: start early. Outreach to schools and universities sparks interest in technical careers. Visible, paid apprenticeships and internships create entry points into the sector. At the professional level, mentorship, transparent career pathways, and flexible work arrangements ensure women not only enter but also advance.

Celebrating role models further amplifies what’s possible. Xiao reflects:

“Showing up as one of the few women at the table taught me early on to question the defaults. Those questions become the seeds of practical innovation.”

For more information, please visit https://www.bridgedatacentres.com/ or email [email protected].