Elea Appoints Former Meta Exec as VP for Hyperscale Push

Elea Data Centers has announced Elena Winters as Vice President of International Business as it ramps up efforts to scale AI-ready data centre infrastructure across Latin America and beyond. 

Elena joins the company with more than 15 years of experience building large-scale data centre networks for global cloud and enterprise workloads.

Her appointment marks a key step in Elea's ambition to grow its footprint in response to hyperscaler demand, particularly from US-based cloud providers expanding into Latin America.

Strengthening international strategy

In her new role, Elena will oversee Elea’s US and international hyperscale expansion efforts. 

Reporting directly to Chairman and Founder Alessandro Lombardi, she will lead strategic growth in support of AI infrastructure deployments and cloud platforms requiring high-performance compute environments.

The company highlights Elena’s background in engineering and data centre site selection at Meta, where she contributed to global capacity planning efforts. 

Her earlier career also includes infrastructure leadership roles at Microsoft and Oracle Cloud, with a focus on deploying compute facilities to support scale-out workloads.

Alessandro says: "Elena combines world-class hyperscale expertise with the values that define Elea: innovation, inclusion, loyalty and bold ambition.

"Her leadership is instrumental as Brazil rises as a global AI infrastructure hub and Elea scales projects such as Rio AI City to meet the world's most demanding compute needs."

Elena’s experience in hyperscale deployment across the Americas positions her to deepen relationships with large cloud platforms and digital infrastructure partners, many of whom are expanding their presence in Brazil and the wider region.

AI infrastructure momentum

Elea, which describes itself as the first platform to deploy artificial intelligence at scale in Latin America, is seeing rising demand for AI infrastructure from international partners.

Its flagship projects include Rio AI City, a purpose-built technology hub in Rio de Janeiro designed to support high-density, sustainable compute.

The company says Elena’s appointment supports its wider goal of enabling green AI growth through the delivery of energy-efficient data centre environments with global connectivity.

Elena says: "Elea is building the future of AI infrastructure in Latin America.

"Projects like Rio AI City represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape intelligent urban development and accelerate AI diffusion. I'm excited to help expand Elea's international partnerships and deliver infrastructure at the scale global AI demands."

Elena is based in Seattle and brings industry influence through her advocacy work. She is the founder of the Women’s Tech Forum, a professional community supporting women in the data centre and technology sectors. Her commitment to equity, diversity and mentoring is consistent with Elea’s stated values and cultural priorities.

Expanding Brazil’s role in global AI

As Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil is emerging as a key region for AI data centre development. Elea positions itself as a sustainable digital infrastructure provider ready to support hyperscale and AI cloud growth.

Elena’s appointment aligns with Elea’s efforts to lead in this space, building long-term partnerships with global tech firms and hyperscalers seeking reliable data centre capacity closer to end users.