Rob Coupland, TelecityGroup’s UK Managing Director has been appointed to the Data Centre Alliance (DCA) Board of Governors where he’ll take a central role in shaping the future health, growth and sustainability of the data centre industry. Coupland’s new position as Senior Vice President for training and skills will see him ensure the next generation of skills in the data centre industry through engagement with schools, further education and academia, as well as commercial training.
The DCA is a professional non-profit organisation comprising of leaders representing the data centre industry in the business world, the media, governments and the general public. After playing a central role in the its recent graduate "bootcamp” initiative and with education a priority, Coupland will be charged with furthering the success of the association’s “bootcamp” initiative, based at the University of East London's Dockland's campus, and implementing further development and training schemes. Coupland’s appointment complements TelecityGroup’s corporate initiatives to facilitate apprenticeships in the technology sector throughout Europe.
Rob Coupland, Managing Director UK, TelecityGroup, comments: “The data centre industry needs to come together to ensure we are investing in the next generation of talent. It’s the DCA’s role to ensure that we’re driving progress in this area. Data centres are critical to the continued evolution of the digital economy both in the UK and across Europe and it’s only by working with schools and higher education institutes that we’ll be in a position, as an industry, to increase the pool of exceptional workers that we need to support this growth. I’m delighted to have been appointed to the DCA’s board and look forward to using my position to fully engage with these institutions and reflecting on the critical importance that future data centre managers and engineers play in our industry’s bright future. ”
Steve Norris, President, Data Centre Alliance comments: “Rob has a long and distinguished record within the data centre industry and his experience and expertise will prove invaluable as we strive to drive data centre training and skills up the industry and political agenda. Rob is passionate about investment in the next generation of data centre workers and this is exactly what we need to maintain the DCA’s commitment to the industry’s needs both now and the future.”