07/02/2025 in Views from Echelon

David Smith has been appointed the new Chief Investment Officer of Echelon Data Centres.

In this role, David will oversee the company’s capital markets activities across debt and equity raising, new acquisitions, and capital allocation, supplementing Echelon’s experienced senior executive team. He succeeds Trevor Whelan, who is becoming a senior advisor to the Echelon Board of Directors. 

David joins Echelon from Starwood Capital Group, a global private investment firm, where he spent nine years, most recently as Managing Director and Head of Data Centres, Europe with additional responsibility for Starwood Capital’s cross-asset class investing in Germany. He was previously a member of the International Capital Markets team at Starwood Capital, and will continue to act as Vice Chairman of CA Immo AG, the listed office developer and owner active in the German, Austrian, and CEE markets, where he has been on the Board since 2022.

Niall Molloy, CEO and Founder of Echelon Data Centres said: “We are delighted to welcome an individual of David’s calibre, who has already worked closely with myself and the team at Echelon. His depth of experience in debt and equity structuring and his global investing perspective will be beneficial to Echelon as we continue to grow and deliver at scale for our customers. Availability of capital is a key consideration for all data centre companies and David’s skills will allow us to remain at the forefront of hyperscale data centre delivery in Europe.” 

David Smith added: “I have worked with Niall and the senior team at Echelon for more than five years now and am thrilled to have the opportunity to join this extremely talented group. I look forward to helping grow Echelon into the leading hyperscale-focused data centre company in Western Europe. The company’s proven abilities in delivering sustainable, scale solutions for customers within the evolving power and environmental policy landscape means it is incredibly well positioned for the future. There are phenomenal growth opportunities across Europe and beyond for Echelon which we are excited to capitalise on.” 

Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital, said: “Data centres have been a core thematic for Starwood Capital globally over the last five years and we are excited to continue to support our investment in Echelon as it pursues this compelling thematic growth opportunity. Having one of our strongest executives join the Company will help to accelerate Echelon’s already rapid growth and expansion into new markets and geographies.”