Transforming a Data Center division into a billion-dollar powerhouse

Objective 

Identify and secure a visionary President capable of building a mission-critical and data center division from the ground up for one of the United States’ leading general contractors - driving national expansion, operational excellence, and rapid market penetration in the hyperscale and enterprise data center sectors. 

Scope 

Single executive hire for a newly established division: 

• President, Mission Critical Division 

This leader would be responsible for defining national strategy, building delivery capability, scaling operations, and establishing credibility with hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise data center clients. 

Strategy 

To secure an elite industry leader with 25+ years of mission-critical experience, we executed a highly targeted and confidential executive search across the US mission-critical landscape. 

Our approach focused on: 

• Mapping top-tier data center and mission-critical executives nationwide 
• Leveraging long-standing relationships within the hyperscale and enterprise communities 
• Discreetly engaging passive senior leaders with demonstrated operational and strategic capability 
• Conducting in-depth assessments of technical expertise, market relationships, and organisational leadership style 
• Providing compensation benchmarking and role positioning to secure the ideal candidate within an accelerated timeframe 

Implementation 

• Activated our specialist Data Center Division to identify a transformative executive with deep mission-critical construction credentials. 
• Conducted targeted outreach to senior leaders across top general contractors, EPCs, and major mission-critical builders nationwide. 
• Delivered a structured, confidential selection process with rigorous vetting across operations, strategy, delivery, and client engagement. 
• Secured a President with over 25 years’ experience, a proven track record scaling mission-critical organisations, and an extensive national customer network. 
• The successful candidate was appointed to launch and lead the new mission-critical division in early 2022. 
• Outcomes 

  Division grown from zero to $1.8 billion in revenue 

  Under the new President’s leadership, the client’s data center division achieved: 

• $1.8B in sales and active projects within three years 
• Significant penetration into hyperscale and enterprise data center markets 
• Recognition as one of the contractor’s fastest-growing business units 
• This growth was accomplished from a starting point of zero staff, zero pipeline, and zero operational structure. 
• Rapid team expansion - 326+ employees hired 
• The President built a full national organisation, including: 
• Delivery and field operations teams 
• National estimating and preconstruction groups 
• Engineering, safety, commercial, and project controls teams 
• A high-performance culture centred around technical excellence, reliability, and speed-to-market delivery 
• Samuel Knight supported ongoing growth through continued placement of critical hires. 

$3 billion pipeline secured across 12 states 

The newly formed division established a substantial long-term pipeline, including: 

• Multi-state hyperscale campuses and enterprise data center builds 
• Projects across 12 states, spanning East Coast, West Coast, and central US 
• $3B in secured future revenue, positioning the contractor as a national leader 
• Multi-year delivery programs with repeat hyperscale and enterprise clients 

This pipeline transformed the division into a key strategic engine driving future company growth.