Evoque Data Center Solutions has brought on a new CEO to lead the company through its next phase of growth. Veteran executive Andy Stewart takes the helm today as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Tim Caulfield, who led the new company through its first 18 months.
Stewart has more than 15 years of senior management experience, and previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at TierPoint, where he was responsible for leading product development, technology strategy and mergers and acquisitions.
“I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to be joining Evoque as CEO,” said Stewart. “With a foundation of rock-solid data centers, a great set of enterprise clients, and Brookfield’s continued commitment, we will move aggressively to take advantage of the global opportunity for colocation and other IT services.”
“Evoque has evolved over the past 18 months,” said Caulfield. “What once was a business unit within AT&T has now become a stand-alone company operating 31 data centers globally,” said Caulfield. “This is the appropriate time to bring someone in to lead the company through the next stage of development. Andy is joining Evoque to lead the next wave of mission-critical decisions and opportunities facing the company.”
Backed By Brookfield
During Caulfield’s tenure, Evoque was able to stabilize, retain the client base and build the shared service functions to support the international footprint and operations talent acquired from AT&T. Caulfield will remain with Evoque over the next several months, assisting Stewart during the transition.
Evoque is a data center company formed by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) in late 2018 after it acquired the AT&T portfolio for $1.1 billion. BIP is an infrastructure fund that seeks returns over a long asset life in sectors like utilities, transportation and energy. Data infrastructure is a new focus area, and the AT&T asset purchase marks Brookfield’s entry into the U.S. data center market.
With the backing of Brookfield, Evoque could be a player in the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the data center sector, using the AT&T assets as a platform to build for the long term.
One of the intriguing aspects of Stewart’s resume is his tenure on the leadership team at Tierpoint during a period in which it grew through a series of acquisitions. He also has been an Executive Advisor at Thompson Street Capital Partners and a board member at BCM One, a leading managed technology solutions provider.