Speakers

David Smith is Deputy CEO of Echelon Data Centres. In this role he works closely with the CEO and board to drive all aspects of Echelon’s strategy and execution across customers, capital, delivery, and growth. He joined Echelon as Chief Investment Officer in February 2025 before taking on his current position in October 2025.  

Prior to joining Echelon, David spent nine years at Starwood Capital Group, most recently as Managing Director and Head of Data Centres, Europe, with additional responsibility for Starwood’s cross-asset class investing in Germany. He worked closely with the Echelon team from 2019 and served on Echelon’s board from 2021. Earlier at Starwood he was a member of the International Capital Markets team, where he worked on the financing of structured real estate and corporate investments, transacting in 16 countries across Europe and Asia.

David began his career at Citi in London and Dublin, working in risk management, corporate and investment banking, and commercial real estate financing.