Atlanta-based T5 Data Centers has reshuffled its senior leadership team and clarified lines of authority across its development, construction, and operations arms, moves the privately held company says will sharpen execution as hyperscale and enterprise demand for capacity accelerates.
In a statement announcing the promotions, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Pete Marin said the company is “aligning the organization for the operational precision, efficiency, and service excellence T5 is known for industry-wide.”
The adjustments create four direct reports to Pete Marin who now hold expanded mandates designed to integrate decision-making from capital formation through facility commissioning and day-two services.
Finance and Capital Markets Vet Peter Almond Takes Dual Role
Peter Almond, formerly Chief Financial Officer, steps into a newly created position as president and chief investment officer of T5 Properties, the entity that owns the developer’s land bank and income-producing assets. Peter Almond now oversees all investment strategy, site acquisition, development financing, and relationships with lenders and institutional partners.
Before joining T5 Data Centers, he spent two decades structuring debt and equity transactions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BofA Securities, and SunTrust. The University of Virginia graduate holds an MBA from the University of Texas.
Operations Chief Tom Mertz Broadens Remit
Tom Mertz, who arrived at T5 in 2022 as Chief Commercial Officer, has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of T5 Services. His group now combines the firm’s construction division, its fast-growing operations and maintenance (O&M) business, sales and marketing, safety, and enterprise applications.
Mr. Mertz is a data-center industry fixture who previously held senior posts at Lee Technologies, Quality Technology Services (QTS), and Critical Power Group (CPG). He earned his undergraduate degree from Georgia State University and completed executive coursework at Emory’s Goizueta Business School.
Karen Stein Assumes Expanded Corporate Services Brief
General counsel Karen Stein adds the title of Chief Administrative Officer with oversight of legal affairs, procurement, HR, compliance, and IT. In less than two years at T5 she has revamped the company’s contracting framework and risk-management processes, drawing on earlier GC tenures at The PGA Tour, Iron Mountain Data Centers, IO Data Centers, and CPG. Stein holds a JD from Emory University, an MBA from Loyola Maryland, and a bachelor’s in business from the University of Maryland.
Steve Glinski Elevated to EVP and CFO
Long-time finance leader Steve Glinski is promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer, responsible for accounting, FP&A, treasury, and financial reporting. A 10-year T5 veteran, Glinski previously worked in real-estate finance for Donohoe Real Estate Services and holds multiple professional designations including CPA and Chartered Global Management Accountant.
Strategic Context
Chairman and CEO Pete Marin said the company is “aligning the organization for the operational precision, efficiency, and service excellence T5 is known for industry-wide.”T5’s reorganization comes as cloud providers, AI start-ups, and Fortune 500 enterprises race to secure power-dense space for graphics-processing-unit (GPU) clusters and latency-sensitive workloads. Industry analysts expect U.S. hyperscale requirements alone to exceed 3 GW of new capacity annually through 2028. T5 Data Centers – founded in 2008 and backed by IPI Partners – operates and develops campuses in Atlanta, Dallas, Colorado Springs, Portland, and Chicago, and delivers build-to-suit projects for select clients.
Under Pete Marin, the company has diversified beyond its original wholesale real-estate model. T5 Development sources and entitles land, T5 Construction provides EPC and tenant-improvement services, and T5 Operations runs critical facilities for both T5-owned and third-party data centers. Executives say tighter integration between those functions will allow the company to tackle larger multi-site commitments and deliver AI-ready halls on compressed timelines.
“Customers want a single accountable partner from substation to white space to turn-key operations,” said Pete Marin. “These appointments position us to deliver on larger, more complex projects while maintaining the agility and responsiveness that define our client relationships.”
The leadership changes are effective immediately. T5 Data Centers did not disclose head-count growth targets but said it is actively hiring construction managers, critical-facility engineers, and program managers across North America.
T5 Data Centers designs, builds, and operates mission-critical facilities for enterprises and cloud platforms worldwide. The company markets its operational philosophy as ‘Forever On,’ emphasizing zero-downtime performance and compliance-driven safety culture.
