Who is Aaron Wangenheim, new CEO of Yondr Group?
As Yondr Group is officially acquired by Digital Bridge, Aaron Wangenheim has been appointed CEO of Yondr.
He succeeds Paul Cossell, who this week announced his retirement after two and a half years in the CEO role.
Eager to support the scaling of Yondr through its next phase of growth, Aaron will be leveraging his more-than 25 years of experience of working in the data centre industry to push the company further towards hyperscale growth.
A data centre veteran
Aaron first entered the data centre sector in the late 1990s, leveraging his significant experience in real estate at The Staubach Company.
Having worked at T5 Data Centers for more than a decade, Aaron served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer, where he provided leadership, strategy and management for the company.
As part of this, he managed the performance of T5’s existing assets to ensure quality, efficiency, consistency and cost-effectiveness across its operations. He was therefore able to drive immense growth for both new and existing projects across the company, including development and merger and acquisition opportunities.
Most recently, Aaron worked as an advisor and developer of data centre solutions, where he evaluated property and operational aspects of the industry for investors.
He is also the Founder and President of Base Partners, where he has been since 2006, where he advises data centre investors on smart asset and platform investments and data centre services companies on opportunities to be more competitive in the market.
Based in San Francisco, California, Aaron holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Yondr has a track record as a leading developer, owner and operator of hyperscale data centres and I’m excited to be joining the company as CEO at such a pivotal time for the business and the industry,” Aaron says.
“I look forward to leading Yondr through its next phase of growth with the backing of two world-class investors that appreciate the critical role we play in supporting our clients.”
Yondr acquisition to scale Digital Bridge digital transformation
With a diverse portfolio of data centre campuses, Yondr is well-positioned to support Digital Bridge in meeting rising demand for advanced data processing capabilities, driven by AI and cloud progress.
Yondr has more than 420MW of capacity committed to hyperscalers, with Digital Bridge saying that it has significant additional land to support a total potential capacity of more than one-gigawatt (1GW)
- Headquartered in London, UK
- 878MW contracted capacity
- 58MW currently operational
- Projects in Virginia, the UK, Malaysia, Japan, Germany and India
Digital Bridge’s plan to buy Yondr was first revealed last October, but the involvement of La Caisse, formerly known as CDPQ, was not announced at the time.
Both organisations have worked together before, as La Caisse acquired a 30% stake in Vertical Bridge, a Digital Bridge portfolio company, in 2019. Additionally in 2024, DigitalBridge and La Caisse supported Vertical Bridge's US$3.3bn tower transaction with Verizon.
The Yondr acquisition ultimately seeks to strengthen DigitalBridge’s data centre holdings as the firm continues to focus on partnerships with hyperscale, technology and AI companies.
Jon Mauck, Senior Managing Director and Head of Data Centers at DigitalBridge, says the transaction aligns with the firm’s strategy of developing scaled capacity for AI and cloud computing applications.
“We're thrilled to finalise our acquisition of Yondr alongside La Caisse,” he explains. “With a diverse global portfolio of campuses, Yondr further strengthens DigitalBridge's world-class data centre portfolio and reinforces our focus on being a global partner to the leading hyperscale, technology and AI companies that are driving the digital economy.”