Amsterdam, May 6 – nLighten, a leading provider of innovative edge data center services across Europe, today announces the appointment of Dame Dawn Childs as Chief Executive Officer and Matthew Harris as Chief Financial Officer. With these appointments, the company further strengthens its leadership team as it enters its next phase of growth.
Dame Dawn Childs joins from Pure Data Centres Group, where she worked for nearly five years, first as Chief Operating Officer and, from May 2023, as Chief Executive Officer. As part of this transition, Childs will remain a Non-Executive Director at Pure Data Centres. Prior to Pure DC, she led a multi-billion-pound transformation program at National Grid, covering both the gas and electricity transmission businesses. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles in the engineering sector, including Group Engineering Director at Merlin Entertainments and Head of Engineering at Gatwick Airport, following a 23-year career as an Engineering Officer in the Royal Air Force.
Matthew Harris brings more than 15 years of financial and strategic experience gained at private equity-backed and publicly listed companies in the digital infrastructure, technology, and investment sectors. He joins from Kao Data, where he had served as CFO since 2021. Before that, he was CFO at Goldacre Ventures, where he oversaw significant growth and secured more than £250 million in financing for portfolio companies.
These appointments come at a time when demand for distributed digital infrastructure across Europe is accelerating, driven by AI, cloud connectivity, and bandwidth-intensive applications. Together with the senior management team, Childs and Harris will lead nLighten’s continued expansion in key European markets, focusing on organic growth, strategic acquisitions, and continued investment in sustainable infrastructure solutions.
Nick Read, Chairman of nLighten, explains: “We are very pleased to welcome Dawn and Matthew to nLighten. Dawn’s deep experience in leading complex, mission-critical infrastructure businesses makes her exceptionally well suited to guide the company’s continued growth, while Matthew’s strong financial and strategic expertise will be invaluable as we scale the platform. As AI generates unprecedented demand for digital infrastructure and edge capacity across Europe, nLighten is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity.”
He adds: “I would also like to thank Harro Beusker for his leadership and the crucial role he has played in building nLighten into the platform it is today. With these strong foundations, we are well positioned to continue delivering sustainable, high-quality data center solutions to our customers.”
Dame Dawn Childs, incoming Chief Executive Officer, explains: “I am very excited to join the nLighten team at such a crucial moment for both the company and the broader digital infrastructure sector. The opportunity for nLighten to play a meaningful role in supporting Europe’s growing need for digital sovereignty is significant, especially as demand for secure, high-quality, and sustainable infrastructure continues to increase.”
Matthew Harris, incoming Chief Financial Officer, explains: “I look forward to joining nLighten as the company continues to build momentum across Europe. The company has a clear strategy and a strong platform to build on. I look forward to working with the team to support further expansion and create long-term value for customers and stakeholders.”
Harro Beusker, who co-founded nLighten in 2021 and has served as CEO since its founding, will remain on nLighten’s board as a Non-Executive Director to support a smooth transition. In addition, he will serve as Senior Advisor to I Squared Capital.
Since its founding, nLighten has built a pan-European platform of 34 data centers in seven countries, with a capacity of 22 MW, through a combination of acquisitions, carve-outs, and brownfield developments. The carrier-neutral facilities, located in many of Europe’s most established data center markets, enable customers to place infrastructure closer to users and latency-sensitive applications.
As AI adoption accelerates and traditional data center hubs face power supply constraints, enterprises, hyperscalers, and AI companies are increasingly turning to edge infrastructure. nLighten’s distributed footprint and local operating model position the company to meet this growing demand.
Dame Dawn Childs will join nLighten on May 5 and will spend the first month meeting colleagues across the company, visiting nLighten locations, and completing a handover with Jeroen Hoencamp before assuming the role of CEO on June 1. As part of this transition, she will also move into a non-executive role at Pure Data Centres Group.
Matthew Harris will join nLighten as CFO on July 1.
About nLighten
nLighten is a digital infrastructure platform focused on developing and operating innovative edge data centers in Europe’s key economic hubs. Its strategically distributed data centers provide leading network access to businesses, private users, and mobile workers. nLighten is building a pan-European presence across all major cities and smaller business hubs.
nLighten’s edge data centers are “close, coupled & connected”: By being closer to customers and users, nLighten provides low-latency and highly available access for businesses, mobile workers, and private users. With a strong commitment to sustainability, nLighten’s data centers will be coupled with the local community, helping to support the stability of the electricity grid while minimizing environmental impact. Connected to an extensive network of carriers and service providers, nLighten enables seamless, real-time data connectivity across Europe.
nLighten was founded in 2021 by a team with many years of experience and broad expertise in the data center industry. The company is backed by I Squared Capital, a leading global infrastructure investor, and is setting new standards for digital infrastructure in Europe.
