DALLAS – August 9, 2023 Tech Titans: The Technology Association for North Texas is proud to announce Aligned Data Centers CEO Andrew Schaap as its 2023 Corporate CEO Award recipient. The award presentation will be made during the Annual Awards Gala, presented by Dallas College, on September 27th at the Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy West Hotel.
Schaap joined Aligned Data Centers as its CEO in 2017 bringing more than two decades of experience in management and the data center industry. He began his career in the early 2000s in software, moved to hardware, and then completely focused his career on the data center industry.
At Aligned, Schaap leads a team of approximately 650 full-time employees, as well as thousands of contractors spread across the Company’s data center sites, who construct, run and manage data centers from North America to the LATAM region.
His accomplishments as the CEO include growing the business nearly three-fold in under five years, all while maintaining a strong focus on customer and operational success as well as sustainability and innovation. With 50-plus patents and over 500 dependent claims on those patents, the company is able to deliver a more efficient data center solution.
Aligned’s team, focus on customer centricity, and company culture are at the heart of Schaap’s accomplishments achieved during his tenure as CEO. This philosophy has helped Aligned attract top talent across the board.
Words like ‘humility’, ‘best idea wins’, and ‘radical integrity and transparency’ define Schaap’s leadership approach. His leadership style gives everyone in the company a voice with a distinct emphasis on the best idea rather than who or where the idea originated.
At the core of the organization and Schaap’s leadership is the empowerment of employees with a focus on not being afraid to fail. Employees are empowered to make decisions quickly, yet thoughtfully, in an environment focused on removing obstacles and showcasing their best skills.
With the proliferation of the cloud, AI, machine learning, autonomous driving and other technologies, Schaap believes that Aligned, as well as the data center industry as a whole, are poised for rapid growth.
His advice for young CEOs just starting out in business is to listen more than you talk and pay attention to the details because they matter. A CEO must understand how the business balance sheet works, how the income statement works and how the company produces. This examination for CEOs enables them to see and work all the way down to the minutest detail. It helps the CEO to have what Schaap calls a ‘mastery of the details’ which helps them form much better decisions.
The Corporate CEO award, sponsored by Comcast/Masergy is one of 14 awards being presented at the 2023 gala. Tech Titans recognize the elite in North Texas technology – individuals currently transforming the high-tech industry and giving companies that competitive edge, as well as companies leading the way in innovation and technical applications. The Tech Titans Awards celebrates the innovators, adopters and executors impacting the technology industry for the greater good.
For more information on the event or to purchase tickets, visit www.techtitans.org.
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About Tech Titans
Tech Titans: The Technology Association for North Texas is a regional trade association of some 200 technology and tech-enabled companies that “champion the North Texas tech community.” Tech Titans includes a diverse group of technology leaders from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies who collaborate to help innovation thrive in the region. As part of its goals, Tech Titans is active in:
- Cultivating a technology community of companies, entrepreneurs, investors and students.
- Growing future tech leaders with its talent and workforce development initiative.
- Advocating technology’s advancement in governmental arenas.
- Connecting people and inspiring innovative ideas through its programs and special interest forums.
- Recognizing achievement and excellence in the technology industry.
About Aligned Data Centers
Aligned Data Centers is a leading technology infrastructure company offering innovative, sustainable, and adaptive Scale Data Centers and Build-to-Scale solutions for global hyperscale and enterprise customers across the Americas. Our intelligent infrastructure allows densification and vertical growth within the same footprint, enabling customers to scale up without disruption, all while maintaining industry-leading Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). By reducing the energy, water and space needed to operate, our data center solutions, combined with our patented cooling technology, offer businesses a competitive advantage by improving sustainability, reliability, and their bottom line. For more information, visit www.aligneddc.com and connect with us on X, LinkedIn and Facebook.
