Investor Forum

Time: 10:10 am - 10:45 am
Location: Room 201

Paul L. Palandjian
CEO & General Partner, O’Leary Ventures

Hear directly from Paul Palandjian, CEO, on O’Leary Ventures’ journey to bring their ambitious data center project – Wonder Valley – to life. This AI-powered data center industrial park will be nestled within the Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG) in Alberta’s Municipal District of Greenview.  Planned as an off-grid, approximately 8-gigawatt AI Data Center Park, Wonder Valley represents a bold step into the future of technology. 

Paul will share valuable insights on the many complex decisions and partnerships needed to realize the vision for this project – from funding to site selection to design and construction to power resourcing and operations. You won’t want to miss this ‘view from the top’ of what really goes on with today’s mega-data center projects.

Jon Charbonneau
VP, Investor Relations

We are pleased to have Core Scientific be the Title Sponsor for Data Center World’s inaugural Investor Forum. Jon Charbonneau, VP, Investor Relations, will welcome everyone to the program and share insights on Core Scientific and data center investment.

Time: 11:00 am - 11:45 am
Location: Room 201

Chea Hart
Principal, Investment Management, DigitalBridge

Discover how trends in AI, energy, and consolidation are reshaping the data center industry and what investors must prioritize to maximize returns in this dynamic ecosystem.

Key Takeaways:

1. Understand macro trends driving digital infrastructure growth.
2. Learn how AI and sustainability are redefining investment strategies.
3. Explore the opportunities in emerging markets and technologies.
4. Gain insights from C-level leaders on navigating risks and seizing opportunities.

Time: 1:45 pm - 2:30 pm
Location: Room 201

Bill Torson
CTO, Scott Data

Dive into the critical topic of cybersecurity and operational risks affecting hyperscalers and smaller data centers alike. This session covers detection, diagnosis, and mitigation strategies, with implications for insurance and investment security. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Recognize cybersecurity threats to operational technology in data centers.
2. Learn best practices for threat detection and resolution.
3. Understand insurance implications tied to operational risks.
4. Explore tools and strategies for safeguarding investments.

Principal, Investment Management
DigitalBridge

Chea Hart is a Principal at DigitalBridge Investment Management. Mr. Hart is involved in the identification, evaluation, and management of digital infrastructure investments and opportunities. He is an investor with over 13 years of infrastructure experience.

Prior to joining DigitalBridge, Mr. Hart was a Principal at Ridgewood Infrastructure, a real assets investment manager, where he focused on direct investments in the communications, energy, and transportation sectors. Prior to Ridgewood Infrastructure, Mr. Hart was an investment professional at IFM Investors, one of the largest infrastructure investors globally. He started his career in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Hart received Bachelor of Science degrees in both Finance and Accounting from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

CEO & General Partner
O’Leary Ventures

Paul L. Palandjian is the CEO and a General Partner of O’Leary Ventures, Kevin O’Leary’s venture capital investment company. He has a diverse background of venture investing into seed through late-stage companies across a broad spectrum of businesses.

From 2006-2022, Mr. Palandjian served as a Managing Director of the Trinity Group Limited ("Trinity"), a UK based private bank regulated and authorized by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). Prior to joining Trinity, he spent 15 years as a Principal and Director of the Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation and affiliated companies (“Intercontinental”). He held positions as the CFO and President and served on both the Executive and Investment Committees; under his leadership the company portfolio grew from approximately $200 million to over $1.5 billion of AUM.

Paul served as Captain of the Harvard Men’s Varsity Tennis Team and was an ATP Tour world-ranked tennis player. Paul earned his BA from Harvard College and his MBA from the Harvard Business School. Mr. Palandjian has served as a trustee on many corporate and charitable boards.

Vice President of Development
RPower

Peter is currently Senior Vice President of Development at RPower, a power generation project developer, owner and operator bringing prime, bridge power and resiliency solutions to large energy users throughout the US.  Peter joined RPower in May of 2022 and brings 17 years of experience commercializing advanced power generation products and technologies, which includes two startups in the renewable energy technology space; Boulder Wind Power and Core Innovation, and 7 years with Generac Power Systems, driving their direct sales channel for commercial and industrial generator customers.

Peter holds a BS in Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from RPI’s Lally School of Management and Technology.

Senior VP, Energy & Location Strategy
CyrusOne

Gene Alessandrini serves as Senior Vice President of Energy & Location Strategy and is responsible for managing power supply strategies and land acquisition, to ensure CyrusOne’s expansion across US markets and timely delivery of power and alternative energy solutions to CyrusOne data centers while also establishing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders in the energy sector around the world.

Prior to joining CyrusOne, Gene served as the Chief Commercial Officer at TerraForm Power, a Brookfield Renewable Company where he was responsible for commercial strategy, asset (revenue) optimization and market operations. Prior to that, he was the Regional Vice President at Brookfield Renewable and Senior Vice President at PPL EnergyPlus, where he had additional responsibilities for retail energy, origination, trading, market fundamentals, regulatory and policy.

Gene received his BSEE degree from Villanova University and his MBA from University of Delaware, Executive Program.

Gene is the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Villanova University College of Engineering and, in the past, has served on Advisory Boards for Saint Mark’s High School and Neumann University.

A native of the greater Philadelphia area, Gene enjoys spending time at the beach, traveling with his family, and following his favorite sports teams – the Philadelphia Eagles and the Villanova Wildcats.

President & CEO
Energy Innovation Center Institute Inc

Rich is a private equity investment leader with over 34 years’ experience investing, advising, and operating in the energy, energy tech and transition, critical infrastructure industries, including as President and CEO of Energy Innovation Center Institute, Inc., CEO of Bedford Management Partners, CEO of the Infrastructure Academy™, past CEO of Blue Tip Energy (an energy and energy tech private equity fund), past EVP & COO Hillman Energy Company (The Hillman Company was a $4.9 billion Ultra High Net Family Office). The Bedford partners have directed approximately $US 3.9 billion AUM over their careers. Rich is an internationally recognized expert (with a convening authority) on sustainability, resiliency, all phases of the energy transition value chain, critical and digital infrastructure investment tax credits, and equitable workforce development. Rich serves on many boards often in positions of leadership (including on the $18 billion per year UPMC Health Plan, two large endowments (one as Chair), a Catholic publish houses, various colleges, and two energy transition tech companies) and in the past as a board member and officer of multiple publicly listed and private companies, and on a publicly elected governing board. He is often called on to testify, speak, and lecture on energy transition, energy security, critical infrastructure security, and workforce impact topics at various summits, universities both nationally and in Europe, and before governing bodies at the state and federal level in the U.S.

Co-Founder & COO
Apolo

Uri Soroka is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Apolo, an AI infrastructure platform designed specifically for data centers and enterprise to deliver GPU-as-a-Service solutions. With extensive experience in digital infrastructure and operations, Uri focuses on enabling data centers to integrate AI capabilities, streamline deployments, and efficiently manage high-performance computing environments.

CTO
Scott Data

Bill Torson is the Chief Technology Officer at Scott Data. Bill leads the deployment and management of high-performance infrastructure for colocation, Scott Data’s GPU-based AI Platform, and a portfolio of managed services and solutions designed to meet the growing demands of AI and enterprise workloads. As an Air Force pilot and DoD technology leader, he has deep expertise in complex system design and integration, infrastructure optimization at the deployed edge, and data center operations. Scott Data Center, a TIER III facility in Omaha, NE, is built for mission-critical computing; offering robust redundancy, security, and high-touch managed services.

Advisor
Airlayer

David Hirsch is an advisor to Airlayer, an investor focused on the convergence of digital and energy infrastructure. Before Airlayer, David was a Principal at Generate Capital, where he was responsible for investments in sustainable digital infrastructure. Prior to joining Generate in 2018, David was the Director of Finance at Powerhive, a start-up focused on rural electrification. David also was a Director at SunEdison, where he worked across project finance, commercial sales, rural electrification, and energy storage project finance. David spent the first five years of his career at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and affiliates, where he worked in both Energy & Power Investment Banking in New York and Real Estate Private Equity in London.

David also sits on the Power for All’s Board of Directors. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley.

Principal, Investments & Strategy
Tract Capital Management

Jay Graham helps lead Tract Capital Management's Investments and Strategy team, working on portfolio companies Tract and Fleet as well as other emerging strategies. Jay previously worked at Bain Capital where he was responsible for sourcing and overseeing investments and partnerships in digital infrastructure and biomanufacturing. Additionally, Jay led Bain’s Insights Team, forming views on the broader macro environment, new investment strategies, and identifying firm-wide strategic growth. He holds a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Studies with High Honors from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Outside of work, Jay is a board member of Cameron’s Coffee and Chocolates - a non-profit that employs adults with disabilities.

Regional Development
Modern Hydrogen

Lynn Lyon is a transformational energy industry strategist and leader with demonstrated success delivering on challenging energy projects for production, transportation, infrastructure, and hard-to-abate sectors. Her specialty is establishing trusted relationships with internal, client, and partner C-suite decision-makers and stakeholders to develop optimal lower-carbon fuel and power solutions.

Her background includes work with the Department of Energy and Ernst & Young’s Center for Business Transformation before joining Pioneer Natural Resources, one of the largest oil and gas producers in North America. At Pioneer, she led their strategic innovation program that focused on developing economic and environmental benefits for natural gas powered operations.

Lyon continued her career leading alternative fuel initiatives for a global fuel systems company that delivered on lighthouse projects with natural gas and hydrogen decreasing emissions in transportation and manufacturing.

She is currently spearheading the development of a Clean Fuel Services Institute and Depot with West Virginia University and decarbonizing natural gas with pyrolysis technologies that are low-energy, low-cost, and low-emission.

A coal miner's daughter from West Virginia, Lynn was born in the energy industry. She has an MBA from Southern Methodist University. She is an industry expert, thought leader, and influencer on alternative fuels for transportation and operations, with more than 30 publications and presentations since 2015, >250K followers on LinkedIn, and >5000 followers on X.