A Norwalk-based data center operator has named a new president and CEO as its co-founder prepares to step down and retire from the company.
Bob DeSantis, the CEO of 365 Date Centers, has announced his plans to retire from the company. He acquired the firm with two equity partners in 2017 when it was based in San Francisco.
365 Data Centers has promoted Chief Revenue Officer Derek Gillespie to CEO, and Chief Financial Officer Steve Amelio to president and CFO, effective Oct. 1.
DeSantis will stay on as a part-time employee through the end of 2025 to oversee ongoing strategic initiatives and ensure a seamless transition of his CEO responsibilities, the company said. He will continue with the company as co-founder and board member, starting Jan. 1. He has served as CEO since 2017.
“After 48 years in financial, legal, operations, strategic, M&A, and leadership roles in the communications, energy, network equipment, cloud, and infrastructure-as-a-service sectors, with the last 15 years dedicated to building two data center businesses, it is the right time for me to transition from the significant time commitment of a CEO in a 24/7 industry to that of an experienced board member,” DeSantis said.
Under DeSantis’ CEO leadership, 365 Data Centers has grown from eight standalone colocation facilities with 9 megawatts of total capacity to 20 network interconnected data centers with 80 megawatts of capacity combined. It has also grown to a firm with 180 employees and over 1,200 customers and added 80 network points-of-presence.
He expects 365 will become the 10th-largest data center operator in the U.S.