Championing women in data centres
Hosts
Alix Pressley
Head of Strategic Content, Lynchpin Media
Jess Abell
Chief Content Officer, Lynchpin Media
In recent years there’s been a noticeable shift surrounding the gender imbalance in the data centre space, with more and more women keen to have their voices heard to close the gap. There continues to be a stark contrast between the number of women in the sector compared to men and, if we aren’t proactive in finding a solution to this lack of diversity, it could be problematic for future digital development.
That is why we are hosting a roundtable event where we welcome key female speakers from across the data centre landscape, to help spread the message more widely. We aim to draw attention to the invaluable career opportunities the industry offers for women, in line with the continued digital innovation of the industry itself.
This is a great opportunity for companies to demonstrate how they are empowering their female workforce while encouraging more women to become a part of this thriving technology space.
Join us on June 26, 2024, to be a part of the conversation.
Confirmed speakers
Gaelle Mogabure
Head of ESG at VIRTUS
Gaelle Mogabure serves as the Head of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) at VIRTUS Data Centres. In this capacity, she drives the development and implementation of the company’s ESG strategy and its programs, ensuring compliance across UK and Europe while shaping future policies and initiatives. With over seven years of dedicated experience in the data centre and cloud industry, Gaelle is integral in driving sustainable practices within VIRTUS.
Dr Umaima Haider
Lecturer – Computer Science & Digital Technologies, University of East London
With over a decade of experience, Dr Haider is a Lecturer at the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, University of East London (UEL). Prior to joining this position, she was a Senior Scientist at UEL and Technical Analyst at Uptime Institute. Dr Haider was also a Lecturer in Computing at Falmouth University, UK and held a visiting research scholar position at Clemson University, South Carolina, USA.
Dr Haider has delivered various externally funded research and industry projects globally related to energy and environmental sustainability of data centres. Additionally, she has contributed to UK public policy on various topics such as regulating ICT product sustainability and the energy consumption of ICT.
Currently, Dr Haider’s main research interest is in the design and implementation of a sustainable ICT infrastructure, especially in a cloud and data centre environment.
Deborah Andrews
Professor of Design for Sustainability & Circularity at London South Bank University
Deborah has 20+ years’ experience in sustainable design and manufacture, the Circular Economy and Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment and is proud to be a Chartered Environmentalist. She adopts a whole systems approach to the challenges of sustainability and circularity that include consideration of all life cycle stages from design, through use and end-of-life. She is engaged in related research and enterprise activities with various sectors. Deborah has collaborated with the data centre industry since 2010 and is the founder and academic lead for CEDaCI; this EU Interreg NWE-funded project generated ground-breaking research to develop a Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry. A key output is the Circular Data Centre Compass – a free online resource which enables stakeholders to make informed decisions about sustainability, procurement and retirement of equipment in line with their business focus.
Sarah Hussain Zahidi
Senior Electrical Engineer, RED Engineering Design
Sarah Hussain Zahidi is a Chartered Engineer currently working as a Senior Electrical Engineer at RED Engineering Design. Having worked in the Middle East for over 10 years, Sarah brings with her a wealth of experience in the design of mission critical infrastructure across EMEA. With a passion for data centres and sustainable design, Sarah possesses a wide range of industry-recognised certifications and is an Accredited Tier Designer (ATD), Certified TIA942 Design Consultant (CTDC), Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE), Certified Data Centre Environmental Sustainability Specialist (CDESS) and Certified Energy Manager (CEM).
Celeste McGinley
Surveyor – Data Centres, Knight Frank
Celeste joined the Knight Frank Data Centres team in February 2022 after completing an undergraduate law degree at the University of Oxford. She has since completed her MSc in Real Estate at University College of Estate Management. As a key member of the Data Centre team, Celeste has led multiple Data Centre projects for some of Knight Frank’s long standing clients.
Celeste is the primary lead for a number of Occupier Advisory projects. Starting as a graduate in this team, she is now advising on over 1MW of colocation projects for a global financial institution across multiple major trading hubs.
Celeste is a founder of the Young Data Centre Professionals: a networking event which brings together those in the data centre industry under Director level. Celeste was also a keynote speaker at Data Centre World 2023, sharing insight on her investment trend forecasts.
Lizzie Quacquarelli
Surveyor – Data Centres, Knight Frank
Lizzie joined the Knight Frank Data Centre team in 2021 after completing a master’s in real estate finance at the University of Cambridge. Lizzie has led multiple data centre projects for some of Knight Frank’s long-standing clients.
Lizzie’s core service line is investment and development and with this she has advised on a number of data centre real estate transactions including development land, powered shells and operational platforms across EMEA, totalling a value of US$1 billion and 1GW of IT power.
She has a strong network from working alongside data centre operators, finding their latest development site or building for repurposing, through to advising on colocation lease disposals. With this she is also able to liaise extensively with engineers, telecoms providers and the hyperscale cloud communities.
This is an exclusive invitation-only event. If you are interested in participating, please complete the following registration page and a member of our events team will be in touch.