EXECUTIVE BIO

Alejandro Cantu Sepulveda

TITLE: CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER & CO-FOUNDER

COMPANY: LAYER 9

INDUSTRY: DATA CENTRES

LOCATION: ARIZONA, UNITED STATES wide mentoring, and the shared mission that drives everyone has allowed Layer 9 to build its characteristic team dynamic.

As COO and Co-founder Mr Cantu brings market experience that spans both U.S. and LATAM borders. His tenure across various disciplines touching procurement, sale engineering and energy contract negotiation has served invaluable to the Layer 9 organisations. Today, Mr Cantu’s focus is execution of corporate strategy toward the development of hyperscale data centre solutions beginning with Project Falcon; and later carry that success toward a scaled, predictable platform that will be viewed favorably upon by the cloud service providers entering LATAM.

“What I love about our team is that we come from diverse backgrounds. Some of us were cut from the cloth in this business; some of us fell into it, like myself; some of us came from the bottom up of the business, on the equipment resale side; and some of us came from the top down, being the banker or asset manager financing that equipment. And then everything in between,” Ortiz explains. “This company is only two-and-a-half years old, and yet we have some of the most innovative think-tank sessions I've ever had in my entire career.”

This company culture, as Ryan describes it, takes an “all hands on deck”, fully collaborative mindset. “It's a testament to the team, what we've done and how we go about doing it. We have different styles, but what’s brought us together is the common goal and the way that we achieve it.”

And, for Layer 9, this sense of a shared goal has actually proven invaluable to their internal talent retention, a challenge that data centre companies across the world are facing.

“In years past, companies have lost their individual touch to inspire their employees to keep on growing and to look for new opportunities. People that are joining our company believe in the project and believe in what we're doing right now,” Sepulveda enthuses.

Fostering collaboration amongst all talent across the company’s markets, mentorship and long-term partnerships help ensure that these growth foundations are strong and sustainable.

“In areas that are regional, we have a peering initiative, which is mentoring. We’re also bringing in groups, partners, employees and consultants that we know have the capabilities to collaborate with us on the first project, the second project, and so on, rather than being disconnected from our operations. And it’s unusual to have that type of involvement at the field level, but we think so much about that,” Ryan outlines, before expanding on this.

“It’s also about going into these areas that may have some experience, but not at that large-scale hyperscale level. They have commercial construction capabilities, but not really that specific technical nuance. So what we're doing is building that experience capable of fostering such growth regionally, but also culturally –inject the way we work into the region, but not force it.”

By nature, this is markedly different from the approach taken in the US and European markets; for Layer 9, this is critical, as it helps them to navigate the barriers to growth in the region, which their competitors haven’t successfully penetrated.

“To be able to give them the support that they need to grow – and in turn for us to grow – through understanding this culture is a hugely symbiotic relationship.

JOSEPH RYAN CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER & CO-FOUNDER, LAYER 9

That's what our mentors’ job is to do, and that's really our goal: it's mentoring, it's partnering, it's collaboration, it's immersing ourselves in learning without being the bull in the China shop,” Ryan explains.

“I think what makes our team unique is that we've gone at it differently than the others. We have a team that's tremendously cohesive, tremendously collaborative, but that immerses itself into the local market, the local culture, and understands those regions prior to purchasing land. This means that land purchase is fruitful for both us and our customers in the future.”

“It really drives our vision. We all have a common goal and a common vision of how we want to collaborate, as well as how we want to partner, both with ourselves and with our local partners, regions and government.”