Paul Finch awarded 2020 iMasons Sustainability Champion Award
Infrastructure Masons announced the winner of the 2020 iMasons Sustainability Champion Award at the virtual ceremony on December 16th, 2020.
The 2020 Sustainability Award has been awarded to Paul Finch, COO at KAO Data who has exceeded the bar set for the industry as a valuable leader in sustainability.
Paul Finch has led initiatives to drive sustainability within the digital infrastructure industry for almost two decades, including leading efforts within ASHRAE TC9.9, and representing the data center industry to the EU Commission on the Eco-design Consultation Forum which resulted in EU regulation 2019/424 related to data centers and energy efficiency. Within KAO Data, Paul has risen to be COO and acting CEO, leading the design, construction and operation of KDL1, a $300Million+ DC campus powered by 100% renewable energy, operating at a PUE of 1.2, and using no mechanical refrigeration. Paul has shown that through technical excellence, sustainability can be complementary to high levels of availability and reliability and reduced CAPEX and OPEX.
“As an engineer by profession and with sustainability being at the core of our businesses ethos, I’m truly honoured to be presented with this award. Over the last 20 years I have witnessed huge advancements in data centre energy-efficiency and sustainability – often understated by commentators from outside the industry who do not take a holistic view of the digital economy and the value the data centre industry brings. Platforms such as this help raise the profile of our industry by celebrating these collective achievements. Through the innovative application of sound engineering principles, Kao Data have evidenced sustainability can be complementary to reliability and availability through reduced complexity, whilst reducing short-term capex and longer-term opex for the customer and operator, delivering higher returns for the investor. If you choose not to put sustainability front and centre of your strategy the result is your business will be at a commercial disadvantage.”- Paul Finch, COO at KAO
Congratulations to the 2020 Sustainability Finalists:
Aaron Binkley, Sr. Director, Sustainability Programs, Digital Realty
Aidin Aghamiri, CEO, ITRenew
Lars Schedin, CEO, EcoDataCenter
Tor Kristian Gyland, CEO, Green Mountain
ABOUT INFRASTRUCTURE MASONS
Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) is a non-profit, professional association of technology and business leaders who represent over $150Bn in infrastructure projects in over 130 countries. The organization is guided by an Advisory Council comprised of global leaders who manage some of the largest digital infrastructure portfolios in the world. The iMasons vision is to Unite the Builders of the Digital Age by enabling our global membership to Connect, Grow, and Give Back. Members leave their companies at the door and connect as individuals. IMasons has four strategic industry priorities – increase Awareness, enhance Education opportunities, champion Diversity & Inclusion, and inspire Sustainability through deep member engagement. Visit the website at www.imasons.org.