Conference Day Two

November 19, 2025

7:00 am Registration & Networking

8:00 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

Expediting the Design Phase

8:10 am Panel: Driving a More Collaborative, Integrated Design Process to Improve Quality & Certainty in Design Decision-Making

  • Kevin Walker Senior Director of Global Design, Iron Mountain
  • Aarth Jarmarwala Global Design & Constructibility Lead, Compass Datacenters
  • Simon Eventov Managing Director, Data Center Design & Build, Align
  • Terence Deneny Senior Vice President, Mission Critical, Structure Tone Inc

Synopsis

  • Mapping the current workflow from concept to product to identify opportunities for greater collaboration, establishing clear ownership and responsibilities of the end-to-end lifecycle
  • Pinpointing the ideal moment for bringing partners onboard: What are the barriers to early team assembly?
  • Exploring how we can use AI tools as a vehicle to ensure productive collaboration for an efficient design phase: what tools are out there and how should you implement them?

8:50 am Panel: Driving a More Collaborative, Integrated Design Process to Improve Quality & Certainty in Design Decision-Making

  • Andy Tolbert Senior Vice President of Engineering, Echelon Data Centers

Synopsis

  • Examining which elements of your design make sense to prefabricate versus those better delivered by traditional methods
  • Understanding how you can integrate prefabricated elements as part of your schematic phase planning to increase standardization, while accelerating coordination of purchasing and logistics
  • Unpacking how prefabrication is reshaping the procurement timeline, partner selection, and logistics of design to make prefab a reality, all the time

9:30 am Breakouts: Staying Ahead of New Legislation & Pending Compliance Regulations in Local Regions

Synopsis

In these breakouts, we will explore how you can work with local partners and authorities to stay one step ahead of changing regulations, creating a central bank of knowledge from which your organization can draw from.

10:30 am Morning Refreshments

Streamlining Project Delivery

11:00 am Benchmarking Temporary Power Solutions to Enable Cost-Effective & Reliable Energy Supply During Construction

  • Philip Fischer Data Centers/Mission Critical Solutions Executive, Black & Veatch

Synopsis

  • Comparing the most common and preferred methodologies for bridging power, considering factors such as different climate zones, supply chains and fuel availability
  • Unpacking total costs of these solutions, including maintenance overheads and permitting pathways to inform design decision making
  • Assessing the total cost implications of employing temporary power solutions vs waiting 12-60 months for the main power source to be connected: Is the time saved really worth the price?

11:40 am Unpacking Long-Lead Mitigation Strategies to Minimize Costs & Need for Rework

  • Nicolas Rbeiz Principal, Data Center Delivery Strategy, Microsoft

Synopsis

  • Defining what and who you need as early as possible, aligning with process and quantity planning to ensure the right partners assume sourcing responsibility
  • Highlighting strategies for early engagement with key delivery partners to consolidate design elements and increase offsite execution, speeding up timelines and mitigating rework caused by late-stage changes or constraints
  • Sharing practical examples of collaboration with delivery partners to build effective mitigation strategies: What to replicate and what to avoid?

12:50 pm Lunch Break

1:50 pm Working with Design & Construction Partners to Safeguard Design Intent & Streamline the Transition From Construction to Operations

  • Terry Rodgers Vice President of Design & Engineering, T5 Data Centers

Synopsis

  • Reviewing our findings from a gap analysis on what was specified vs delivered: What were the main gaps that we found?
  • Discussing the additional processes implemented to safeguard design intent throughout construction Working with operations teams and design and construction partners from the CD phase to update future operating procedures and training for facility operation teams

Empowering Talent & Technology

2:30 pm Audience Discussion: Expanding Your Talent Acquisition Pipeline to Increase Delivery Capacity & Accelerate Strategic Growth

Synopsis

  • Discovering how teams are adopting creative talent strategies to mitigate gaps in the current workforce
  • Unpacking real-world examples from companies that successfully built pipelines for specialized roles, understanding how to create lasting appeal moving forward
  • Securing executive buy-in to sustain talent investment at scale, ensuring that your company recognizes and embraces the importance of inspiring new industry talent

3:10 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks

3:15 pm End of Main Conference