Dave Smith

Director of Sustainability & Operational Risk, EMEA, Digital Realty

Dave is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered IT professional and has spent the last twenty-four years in international data centre operations management.

In his role as Director of Sustainability & Operational Risk at Digital Realty, Dave is responsible for sustainability, energy efficiency and government engagement across the EMEA region.  Prior to the merger with Interxion, Dave was also responsible for managing Digital Realty’s energy procurement programme in EMEA.

Prior to joining Digital Realty in 2018, Dave held the role of Operations Director at DataCentred which was preceded by sixteen years at Telecity Group.  Joining Telecity’s original management team in 1998, Dave oversaw the roll-out of data centres across Europe, managed the technical due diligence and integration of multiple acquisitions, and successfully implemented group wide integrated management systems incorporating ISOs 90001, 27001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001. In addition, he implemented the group-wide energy management system which was successful in achieving ISO 50001 across key European markets.

Dave has an Engineering Degree from Kingston University and an MBA from Manchester Business School.

Dave also sits on techUK’s Data Centres Council and was part of the team who negotiated with Central Government on behalf of the industry over the introduction of the new Climate Change Agreement for UK Data centres.