US data center firm TierPoint is on the hunt for a new CEO.

The Argo-owned company this week announced that current chairman and CEO Jerry Kent is set to transition to executive chairman of the company’s board.

Leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder has been selected to help with the search, in coordination with a board-designated committee, led by current CEO Kent. Kent will remain in his role until a replacement is appointed.

“Over the last decade, we’ve built TierPoint into a world-class provider of data center and cloud services in its target markets, and we’ve developed a reputation for exceptional customer service,” Kent said. “With the company today being in a stronger position than ever in its history – with rapidly accelerating sales and record revenue and earnings – I decided it was the optimal time to seek a new, top-tier CEO, who can steward the company through the next chapter of its growth trajectory. The individual selected will report to the board of directors and be in an enviable position to shape the future of the company and industry.”

Kent and his private investment firm, Cequel III, will retain their investments in TierPoint alongside Argo.

Kent co-founded and led Charter Communications in 1993, selling the company to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 1998 and leaving after the firm’s IPO in 2001. He was also involved in Suddenlink Communications (sold to Altice in 2015) and tower firm AAT Communications (sold to SBA in 2006 for $1.1 billion).

Kent co-founded data center firm Cequel (now TierPoint) in 2010 and has led the company since. Today, TierPoint operates around 40 data centers across 18 US markets, mostly in second-tier cities.

“In the last six years since our initial investment in TierPoint, under Jerry Kent’s leadership, significant progress has been made to position and strengthen TierPoint, enabling the company to capitalize on unprecedented market demand, deliver substantial under-roof expansion capacity across its national portfolio, and realize the potential of the approximately $2 billion investment-grade ABS financing structure,” said Jason Zibarras, founding partner of Argo and TierPoint board director. “Securing and supporting the next CEO, TierPoint will have a leader who can energize the execution of the next exciting phase of growth for the company, building on strong sales and broad financing capabilities to capital markets, which could result in more than doubling TierPoint’s portfolio size over time.”

Cequel acquired TierPoint in 2012, taking on the latter’s name. In the intervening years, TierPoint has expanded through a mixture of new builds and acquisitions, including Colo4, Perimeter Technology Center, Adhost Internet Advertising, Baltimore Technology Park, Philadelphia Technology Park, Xand, CxP Data Centers, Altered Scale, Windstream Hosted Solutions, and Cosentry. TierPoint has some 100MW of capacity due to come online in 2026.

Argo first invested in TierPoint alongside Wafra and Macquarie Capital Principal Finance in a 2020 $320 million raise. The company then invested another $500m in TierPoint in 2022, becoming the company’s largest shareholder. It became a majority shareholder in the operator in 2024, taking its investment in TierPoint to $700m.