Datacenter People Group Expands Search Division

June 5, 2019 – U.K.-headquartered recruiting organization Datacenter People Group has named Mark Acton as the newest partner at Portman Partners, the company’s executive search division focused on C-level leadership and senior executive roles for leading firms within the sector.

“We’re delighted to welcome Mark to our leadership team and to add his deep knowledge and experience to our growing firm,” said Peter Hannaford, founder of Portman Partners. “Mark’s seasoned insight into operational excellence, energy efficiency and sustainability will enable him to identify and precisely match candidates with the right strengths for the globally transforming needs of each of our clients.”

Mr. Acton has more than 25 years of experience in the datacenter sector, working for such firms as CBRE, the Uptime Institute, Dell and Intel. He speaks regularly at international events and is recognized throughout the datacenter industry as an advisor on technical challenges. Mr. Acton also takes an active part in European datacenter standards development through CENELEC and BSI. He currently serves as chair of the best practice committee for the European Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to work with Peter and the wider team in a partnership that has gained such broad-reaching respect for its insight in the datacenter space,” said Mr. Acton.

Newly Formed Executive Search Division

Last year, Datacenter People announced the formation of Portman Partners, which focuses on recruiting C-level leadership and senior executive roles within the datacenter and cloud industries.

“This is a new chapter in the growth of the firm,” said Mr. Hannaford, who is also the founder of Datacenter People. “We’re well established and have built a loyal following from our clients with whom we enjoy repeat and regular business. Our work has brought us into contact with many of the leaders in our industry who now form part of our extensive global network.”

Finding the ideal candidate to fill a vacancy on an executive board, in a senior team or for a specialist position requires the services of a consultancy with an intimate inside knowledge of the datacenter industry and the digital economy that it supports, said Mr. Hannaford. “Recruiting for C-level executive and leadership positions requires a different approach to traditional recruiting.”


Datacenter People Creates Cloud Services Division
Datacenter People announced plans to expand its practice to include recruitment in the cloud services division. The expansion stems from accelerated growth of cloud services in the datacenter industry, the company said. Digital disruption, including Mobility, IoT, AI and other emerging solutions, are pushing organizations to think and behave differently, said Datacenter People.


“And while clients may decide to look outside the industry to bring in new ideas, our intimate knowledge of the datacenter and associated landscapes can ensure that the right senior executive with appropriate skills qualities can be rapidly found to effectively manage the tasks in hand,” said Mr. Hannaford.

“Our clients have told us that traditional executive search firms just don’t understand the special nature of our sector” said Mr. Hannaford. “So we’re hoping that this new focus will continue to deliver the same level of personal service at board level, be it permanent hires or the provision of consulting, advisory, non-executive directors or simply the provision of interim executives – very experienced and highly qualified senior executives for full-time assignments for fixed terms, typically between six and 12 months, and at short notice, to provide cover during mergers and acquisitions, business transformations or crisis management.”

Datacenter People was formed in 2010 as a talent acquisition firm to focus on the datacenter industry worldwide. The company works with clients in the internet and cloud infrastructure sector, from hyperscale operators to regional colocations, designers, builders, and plant and equipment manufacturers around the world, providing talent with skills ranging from executive management, sales, engineering, software and operations. The group has offices in London, Singapore, Dublin and Tampa, FL.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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