Global datacenter services heavyweight Equinix is to replace its CEO as part of a planned transition in “late Q2.”
Update. Merrie Williamson hire note added at end of story, 14 March 2024.
Current president and CEO Charles Meyers will move to the role of executive chairman, and current Google Cloud go-to-market president Adaire Fox-Martin will take over Meyers’s two roles in the second quarter.
Peter Van Camp, currently executive chairman, will step away from his responsibilities as a board member to take the role of “special advisor” to the board.
Meyers joined the company in 2010, and was appointed CEO in 2018. During his tenure, he has helped extend the Platform Equinix offering to more than 70 markets across 33 countries – supporting cloud data management and storage vendors, managed service providers, network as-a-service (NaaS) providers, communications service providers, and enterprises in the process.
“I am confident that Adaire’s capabilities and experience will be deeply additive to our team and our culture, helping us meet the evolving needs of our customers, fuel our growth and unlock the extraordinary power of Platform Equinix,” said Meyers. “I am grateful to our board for their support of my desired transition timeline. As executive chairman, I will actively support Adaire as she leverages her tremendous global experience to extend and expand our market leadership.”
With more than 25 years of experience in the technology sector, Fox-Martin is currently head of Google Ireland, and is the global president of go-to-market for Google Cloud – leading sales, professional services, the partner ecosystem, and customer success efforts. Prior to Google, she held senior global positions at both SAP and Oracle. The Equinix CEO hire is a pretty tidy one as she has been a member of the Equinix board of directors since 2020.
“In today’s dynamic digital landscape, Equinix has uniquely amassed global reach, highly differentiated ecosystems, strong partner relationships, and an innovative range of product and service offerings, collectively forming a robust and future-proofed platform to address diverse customer challenges,” said Fox-Martin. “I will leverage my experience to drive continued innovation and growth.”
Dell, NetApp, Pure Storage, and Seagate all have offerings based on Equinix colo datacenters.
Update: Equinix has also appointed Merrie Williamson as EVP and Chief Customer and Revenue Officer (CCRO), effective March 25. Williamson previously served as Corporate VP of Azure Infrastructure and Digital and Application Innovation at Microsoft and was responsible for commercial sales strategy and execution for the core multibillion-dollar Azure business.
