The Evolving Canadian Data Center Market: Growth, Challenges, and the Road Ahead

• 

  Sean Maskell

  Mr. Sean Maskell serves as President of Cologix Canada at Cologix, Inc. He has over 16 years of experience in Telecommunication and Data Facility Operations. He founded Telehouse Centre Canada in 2004, which quickly became the fastest growing carrier neutral facility in Toronto over the next 8 years. Through Sean's vision and leadership, Telehouse has modeled a more efficient data center that reduces operational costs, while escalating facility reliability and customer experience. He continues to provide leadership and strategic direction for the Toronto and Vancouver locations to ensure Cologix customers receive the highest level of services to meet their most demanding applications. Mr. Maskell is an active volunteer in his community and holds a degree from Niagara College, along with sales/management certifications.

  Cologix

  President, Canada

  Sean Maskell

  President, Canada

  Cologix

• 

  Dave Misra

  Dave Misra is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Galaxy Data Centers, where he leads global strategy, tenant relationships, and investment decisions for the firm’s data centre platform. He has executed billions of dollars in leases with leading cloud clients, including hyperscalers, enterprise colocation clients, and cutting-edge AI companies. Dave began his career in venture capital before transitioning into data centre development. He has trained under former CEOs of CoreSite and Vantage, and has built strategic capital, leasing, and energy relationships with top technology firms worldwide. With a consistent focus on innovation, operational excellence, and long-term value creation, Dave has driven the growth of Galaxy's platform and established himself as a trusted partner to hyperscalers and enterprise clients navigating the evolving digital infrastructure landscape.

  Galaxy Data Centers

  Co-Founder & Managing Partner

  Dave Misra

  Co-Founder & Managing Partner

  Galaxy Data Centers

• 

  Jeffrey Moerdler

  Jeff Moerdler is chair of the Haynes Boone Data Center and Digital Infrastructure Practice and a real estate partner in the New York office. He has more than 40 years’ experience in general commercial real estate law. Jeff’s real estate practice includes acquisitions, sales, development, leasing, and borrower’s side financing. Jeff also has a particular focus on real estate challenges facing communications, technology and energy companies, and represents property owners and telecom companies in telecom real estate matters, particularly in data center development, acquisitions, sales, leases, colocation agreements and service level agreements. His clients include both large national companies and smaller, local clients, and includes representation of landlords and tenants in all types of leases; counseling owners and developers in the acquisition, sale, joint venture, development, and renovation of property as well as sale-leaseback transactions; advising lenders and borrowers in commercial loans; and the representation of all parties in real estate litigation. He is actively involved in settling real estate, partnership, and inter-family disputes. He also represents many not-for-profit entities and is active in health care, senior living, and educational real estate.

  Haynes and Boone, LLP

  Partner & Chair, Data Center & Digital Infrastructure

  Jeffrey Moerdler

  Partner & Chair, Data Center & Digital Infrastructure

  Haynes and Boone, LLP

• 

  Marc Mondesir

  “Passionately helping people reach their full potential in business and in life” Marc’s career in Tech spans over 28 years and includes senior positions at Xerox, Microsoft & Dell Technologies. Currently, Marc holds the position of Managing Director & President at Equinix Canada. Prior to Equinix, Marc spent 3 years at Microsoft as the head of Microsoft Canada’s Consulting Services Business Unit and 20 years or so at Dell Technologies, where he held multiple Regional & National Senior Leadership roles. 2 things describe Marc in business: He has a knack for uncovering market opportunities and bringing them to Market. His focus on equitable leadership and having an impact on people, beyond business through D&I initiatives and community involvement. Marc studied Communications at Ottawa U and York University and he holds an MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queens University. Social Media Content: Business, Finance, Music, and Sports His guilty pleasures: Superhero, Sci-Fi, Mob-movies, vintage boxing, and cooking shows Hobbies: Writing. Cooking. Holiday Style: (when resources permit) travel with great company… Love Europe! Family: Wife of 25 years, his two teen-aged boys, Grandma’ & Grandads!

  Equinix

  MD, Canada

  Marc Mondesir

  MD, Canada

  Equinix

• 

  Randy Borron

  Randolph (Randy) is a Vice Chairman at Cushman & Wakefield with 41 years of experience in commercial real estate and data center and portfolio optimization site acquisition and disposition, lease negotiations, and over 40 years of experience in Commercial Real Estate. His data center expertise covers site selection, risk analysis, portfolio strategy, Real Estate strategic planning, and account management. Randolph is one of the founding members of Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Data Center Advisory Group. This highly specialized group is made up of uniquely qualified real estate brokers who understand the specialized requirements of mission critical environments. Mr. Borron ensures that his client’s real estate solutions create optimum efficiency and minimized risk while meeting the business’ needs.

  Cushman & Wakefield

  Vice Chairman, Global Data Center Advisory Group

  Moderator

  Randy Borron

  Vice Chairman, Global Data Center Advisory Group

  Cushman & Wakefield

Building and Optimizing Data Center Infrastructure: Cooling, Power and Design

• 

  Stephan Abraitis

  Stephan Abraitis is a seasoned enterprise technology executive with over two decades of experience leading mission-critical infrastructure and global IT service transformations across the financial sector. He is best known for his tenure at RBC, where he spearheaded the global transformation of the bank’s high-availability data center portfolio, overseeing site strategy, design-build delivery, operational governance, and vendor management across more than 91 facilities worldwide. At RBC, Stephan’s mandate included modernizing physical environments to support next-generation workloads, enhancing resiliency standards, and negotiating complex vendor and service provider contracts. He helped shape a scalable, risk-resilient platform strategy that enabled 24/7 uptime for trading, core banking, and customer-facing services; while delivering cost efficiencies and long-term modernization aligned with enterprise continuity requirements. Currently at Manulife, Stephan leads a global IT organization of 750+ professionals delivering services across infrastructure, operations, service management, and AI Ops. Under his leadership, Manulife has accelerated its transition to a cloud-first architecture, while embedding AI-powered observability and automation across platforms. Stephan is a speaker on enterprise resilience, operational excellence, and data center modernization. His unique blend of structured risk governance, engineering depth, and entrepreneurial leadership has made him a trusted advisor.

  Manulife

  VP, Global Technology Service Management (GTSM)

  Stephan Abraitis

  VP, Global Technology Service Management (GTSM)

  Manulife

• 

  Jared Goodman

  Jared Goodman is an accomplished Project and Program Manager with over 15 years of experience in Data Center Projects, Programs, and Operations. He currently serves as a Project Manager for All Control Systems and Low Voltage Structured Cabling at Edged Energy, where he also plays a key role in IoT Services for a 200+ location portfolio across Canada and oversees project development for Edged Energy. Jared began his career at the Royal Bank of Canada, where he held the position of Facility Management System Manager for Critical Environments. Following his tenure at RBC, he transitioned to Aligned Energy, where he served as the OCC Manager. His roles at these institutions involved delivering excellence in Enterprise Data Center Construction, Retrofits, and interconnected Operations systems. Jared's expertise lies in optimizing Data Center Monitoring project deliverables and restructuring operations for enhanced efficiency using connected toolsets, thereby improving reach, response, and oversight for extensive Critical Property portfolios.

  Edged Energy Infrastructure

  Director, Data Center Infrastructure & Integrations

  Jared Goodman

  Director, Data Center Infrastructure & Integrations

  Edged Energy Infrastructure

• 

  Christiaan Best

  Christiaan has been the creator of rack-level power and cooling designs for some of the largest data centers in the world, with more than 10 issued patents in data center power and cooling. His extensive experience in the field includes helping to design the most efficient supercomputer, building some of the largest private and public supercomputers in the world. He has designed numerous data centers, applying his knowledge in every phase from working with the mother board to the outdoor cooling towers, and he continues this work with Wesco.

  Wesco

  Director

  Christiaan Best

  Director

  Wesco

• 

  Walter Wallace

  Walter Wallace is the Head of Global Facility Resiliency & Energy within Corporate Real Estate (CRE) at BMO Financial Group. Walter joined BMO in January 2019. In his current mandate, Walter’s team is accountable for the operational resiliency of BMO’s critical facility environments and energy program across all global CRE facilities (including office and retail sites). Walter has deep experience in successfully managing all aspects of business transformation and real estate, including project management, design (engineering & architecture), contract management, facility management and critical facilities operations. Walter’s earlier work experience includes over sixteen years at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). At RBC, his signature achievements were the creation of RBC’s Global Critical Facilities team (80+ individuals) and the planning and build of two Enterprise Data Centre's (6-year program). During the latter part of his tenure at RBC, Walter held senior leadership roles in the Enterprise Program Management Office and Group Risk Management. Walter holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA Financial Services) from Dalhousie University. He also has his Fellowship, Institute of Canadian Bankers (CSI-FICB) and Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications.

  BMO Financial Group

  Head of Global Facility Resiliency & Energy

  Walter Wallace

  Head of Global Facility Resiliency & Energy

  BMO Financial Group

• 

  Craig Sievenpiper

  Craig Sievenpiper is a Principal of the firm and Vice President of the Science + Technology Division at HH Angus, where he leads the design and delivery of some of the most demanding and sophisticated data centre projects across North America and Europe. With over two decades of experience, Craig is known for turning complex mechanical and control system challenges into innovative, high-performance solutions tailored to mission critical environments. Throughout his career, Craig has worked closely with clients from early planning through to commissioning and operations—ensuring that data centres not only perform on day one but continue to operate efficiently and reliably for years to come. Craig leads a team of 65+ skilled professionals and is passionate about building long-term client partnerships. His collaborative approach and focus on operational excellence have made HH Angus a trusted advisor in everything from new builds to ongoing operations reviews. Whether navigating the complexities of hyperscale facilities or tackling fast-track expansions, Craig brings technical rigor, strategic insight, and a genuine commitment to client success.

  H.H. Angus and Associates Ltd.

  VP, Science + Technology

  Moderator

  Craig Sievenpiper

  VP, Science + Technology

  H.H. Angus and Associates Ltd.

Opening Keynote

• 

  Michael Borron

  Michael is a licensed Broker and is working as an Associate Vice President at Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). Prior to that, Michael worked at C&W was a Research Analyst in the Data Center Advisory Group beginning in 2016. Michael has a degree in Finance and Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University. ​ Michael is a key part of our Global Data Center Advisory Group where he works on one of the largest top producing teams. Michael has worked on major site selection accounts including projects for Fortune 100 companies, capital market transactions including land, industrial properties and off market transactions, specialized business case consulting, financial analysis for clients, and works with teams to create, manage and implement listing programs across North America. ​

  Cushman & Wakefield

  AVP, Global Data Center Advisory Group

  Michael Borron

  AVP, Global Data Center Advisory Group

  Cushman & Wakefield

Presentation: Top Ten Data Center Legal and Business Issues for Powered Land, Leases and MSA's That You Should Know About

• 

  Jeffrey Moerdler

  Jeff Moerdler is chair of the Haynes Boone Data Center and Digital Infrastructure Practice and a real estate partner in the New York office. He has more than 40 years’ experience in general commercial real estate law. Jeff’s real estate practice includes acquisitions, sales, development, leasing, and borrower’s side financing. Jeff also has a particular focus on real estate challenges facing communications, technology and energy companies, and represents property owners and telecom companies in telecom real estate matters, particularly in data center development, acquisitions, sales, leases, colocation agreements and service level agreements. His clients include both large national companies and smaller, local clients, and includes representation of landlords and tenants in all types of leases; counseling owners and developers in the acquisition, sale, joint venture, development, and renovation of property as well as sale-leaseback transactions; advising lenders and borrowers in commercial loans; and the representation of all parties in real estate litigation. He is actively involved in settling real estate, partnership, and inter-family disputes. He also represents many not-for-profit entities and is active in health care, senior living, and educational real estate. During the past 35 years, Jeff has developed considerable experience in the intersection of real estate with communications, technology, and energy issues. He has extensive experience representing landlords, tenants, developers, and communications service providers in the leasing, purchase, sale, and financing of data centers, colocation facilities, radio and television broadcast antennas, distributed and in-building wireless systems, rooftop antennas, and fiber-optic transactions as well as the wiring of buildings for broadband communications access. Jeff has also negotiated thousands of data center leases, master services agreements, colocation agreements and service level agreements, rooftop and cellular antenna leases, inside wiring agreements, and antenna tower leases throughout the country – covering over 500 million square feet. He has also devoted a considerable portion of his practice to power and energy issues related to real estate and other technology matters, including large solar and wind installations, battery storage facilities, and bulk power purchases. Jeff is a frequent speaker on real estate, data center, and telecom topics around the country. He is Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and on the faculty of the Advanced Commercial Leasing Institute. He regularly speaks as a panelist at data center, digital infrastructure and real estate conference around the United States. In addition, he is regularly quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bisnow, Commercial Property News, Real Estate Weekly, and other publications. He co-authored the first treatise chapter on telecom real law for Powell on Real Property in 1999. Jeff has previously served in numerous governmental positions, including as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a member of the New York State Banking Board, a member of the New York State Financial Control Board, a member of the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division of the First Department of the New York State Supreme Court, Assistant to the First Deputy Mayor of the City of New York, and assistant to the Deputy Borough President of the Borough of Manhattan. From 1981 to 1982, Jeff served as a law clerk to the Honorable Charles L. Brieant, US District Judge, and later Chief Judge, for the Southern District of New York. Jeff is also an emergency medical technician on his local volunteer ambulance and President of his local chapter, as well as having served for 8 years on the Board of Trustees of the umbrella organization which is the largest volunteer ambulance service in the United States.

  Haynes and Boone

  Partner & Chair, Data Center & Digital Infrastructure

  Jeffrey Moerdler

  Partner & Chair, Data Center & Digital Infrastructure

  Haynes and Boone