Derek, who has over 30 years’ experience in the data centre industry, joined Global Switch as Group Director, Operations in 2012 moving to his current position as Operational Engineering and Technical Services Director in 2022.
Derek has extensive knowledge operating large scale data centres where he has led the standardisation and introduction of best practice operating procedures and has been responsible for a number of significant data centre build projects. Prior to joining Global Switch, Derek worked for Cable and Wireless Worldwide as Head of Data Centre Development, at UBS as Director of Data Centre Strategy. Derek spent the first 22 years of his career at BT where he built up comprehensive engineering and facilities management expertise.
At Global Switch, Derek’s primary focus is on the reliability and performance of the installed plant. He works closely with the Design and Delivery teams to ensure the appropriate redundancy is specified as part of proposed designs at existing data centres and new developments. His involvement works to de-risk the solutions for plant, aiming to maximise the reliable operation of the equipment over the predicted life cycle.
Derek represents Global Switch at the Data Centre Council of TechUK, which provides strategic direction for all activity relating to data centres in the UK, and is also on the Policy Committee of the European Data Centre Association, which represents the interests of the European commercial data centre operator community.
