IXcellerate, Russia’s premier carrier and cloud neutral datacenter operator, is pleased to announce that Michael Tobin, OBE, Data Centre stalwart and Entrepreneur, has joined IXcellerate’s Board of Directors.
He started his DC career in Redbus in 2002, becoming within a year the company’s CEO, and grew its business from 6 Million pounds revenue annually into Telecity Group with a market cap of over 1.5 billion pounds. As CEO he led the business for over 12 years with a number of significant achievements, from the take private and merger through to the successful IPO in October 2007 and reaching the global scale, operating 40 data centres across 12 countries. January 2016 marked another business milestone with Telecity’s official acquisition being approved and closed by Equinix, who fortified their position as the largest colocation provider in Europe, in a transaction valued at approximately 3.8 billion US dollars.
Michael’s personal achievements are many including being awarded the OBE by Her Majesty the Queen in 2004 for Services to the Digital Economy. He was recognized as «PWC Technology CEO of the Year», «Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year» and pioneered the philosophy of “Highly Connected” datacentres while at TeleCity. His filantropic interest is varied, having initiated the inaugural CEO Sleepout raising funds for Action for Children. He holds the positons of Chairman for the Friends of Loomba Trust and Patron of the British Asian Trust. In 2013 he was appointed Business Charity Champion at the UK Business Charity Awards.
Michael is currently engaged in a number of Non-Exec roles in 4 continents helping businesses within the TMT space from USA, Hong Kong, South Africa and UK to drive growth and profitability both at early stage and at exit level.
Guy Willner, CEO and co-founder of IXcellerate, said: “Mike Tobin is extremely well known in the datacentre industry for his professionalism and outstanding accomplishments as a global market authority. IXcellerate has a global vision and significant business development ambitions. To be successful we need such players as Mike on the Board – with his multi-year experience, connections, strategic approach, enthusiasm and personal belief in human ability to make the world better”.
Michael Tobin said on his appointment: “I am delighted to be part of this great venture into the emerging and fast growing market of Moscow. Guy and his team have built the foundations of what promises to be a market leading position in this important geography. The team has all the potential to become at least the best data center in Russia. I am looking forward to working together and ensuring these ambitions come true.”
IXcellerate’s Board is chartered to build the strategic advantage for the company and bring global best practices, know-how, and latest technologies not accessible to any of the competition. Currently it consists of 7 members, out of which 4 have many years of direct datacentre experience and operated many DCs with being involved in numerous DC projects delivery in the past, while the other 3 have dozens of years combined investment experience, in particularly, within the TMT sector worldwide.