Brazil’s Elea Data Centers has named Elena Winters vice president of international business.
A veteran of engineering roles at Meta, where she specialized in data centers and site selection, Winters brings more than 15 years of experience expanding cloud and hyperscale operations across the Americas. Her previous positions include stints at Microsoft and Oracle Cloud, where she contributed to the design and deployment of next-generation infrastructure capable of handling global-scale workloads.
In her new role, Winters will be responsible for expanding Elea’s footprint and deepening strategic relationships with major US-based hyperscalers – a key driver of AI and cloud demand in Brazil, as she says in this interview. The executive will report directly to Alessandro Lombardi, Elea’s founder and chairman.
BNamericas: What exactly will be your role as international business VP? What are you tasked with?
Winters: For the past 15 years, I’ve been on the buy side of the digital infrastructure industry, specifically focused around space and power. And that’s initially how I met Elea Data Centers, back in, I think, 2021.
I’ve been in a couple of different hyperscale companies. I was at Microsoft, Oracle, and then Meta for eight years. So the intent in me coming on board is to lead the international sales business and really to be the interface with customers that are located in the United States.
I’m based in Seattle, Washington. There’s a good hyperscale presence of companies in the Seattle area, the Bay Area, on the East Coast and further down in California. My goal and the idea of bringing me on board is to have a closer reach to those customers and help scale the company for hyperscale, really supporting some of these large AI workloads.
BNamericas: So you will be the one on the ground in the US fostering relationships and eventual contracts between US-based hyperscalers and Elea in Brazil?
Winters: Correct.
BNamericas: Beyond that, is it on your international business horizon, even if in the long run, having Elea going global as well? Maybe expanding overseas to Latin America?
Winters: Right now, I don’t have those specific details to share, but I’m sure after 30, 60 days we can sit down again and provide more detail as it relates to what the plan is, you know, beyond Brazil.
BNamericas: How is the status, now speaking of the global partnerships between hyperscalers and Elea, of the alliances within the signature Rio AI City project? We know that Elea already has Oracle and Nvidia on board for it.
Winters: I think that that is part of the initiative into, you know, why they wanted to bring me on board. I have a really solid network of not just operators globally, but also people on the buy side as well. I hope to deepen some of the existing hyperscale relationships.
And Rio AI City is really a perfect example of how we can do that really immediately with 1.5 gigawatts of capacity available today and then upwards of 3.2 gigawatts of capacity in the future.
Rio AI City is really kind of the launching pad to support these AI workloads, large scale AI workloads with the modernized infrastructure and also just taking advantage of the 100% renewable energy that Elea has.
I think the hyperscalers will see Elea as reaching some of their low carbon emission goals by utilizing the company as an operator. And again, Rio AI City is just the perfect opportunity to start doing that.
BNamericas: You have previous experiences in Meta, Oracle and Microsoft. Aside from connections, what do you expect to bring from these experiences into Elea?
Winters: Every company is different for sure, but I am bringing to the table a lot of experience on how decisions are made at some of these hyperscale companies. What it takes and what is needed from a strong partner.
I think that right now what matters the most can be just delivering on the solutions that some of operators and developers are communicating more broadly.
So having that experience and being able to tie that back into the operation side here at Elea Data Centers is what I bring, to really help bridge the gaps between what hyperscalers need to see in a strong partner. And part of it is operational excellence, being able to deliver on what they say.
And I think having that experience will really be helpful.
BNamericas: Alessandro Lombardi [Elea’s CEO and founder] has been quite vocal about need for congressional approval of ReData for all these AI data center investments in Brazil to really materialize, and also the infralegal regulations tied to it. From your perspective, how are hyperscalers looking at the buying in the Brazilian market right now?
Winters: Redata is a policy under discussion to have zero taxation on the imports for key equipments like GPUs coming into the country.
It’s definitely a door being opened for a lot of hyperscalers to really look at Brazil as the next place for AI growth and diffusion. We see it as a positive. Regulatory in Brazil is moving fast to accommodate it and the hyperscalers also see it as a positive.
BNamericas: Have you already started formal engagements under your role at Elea in the US?
Winters: That will all be happening really this week. So this week is the formal kickoff. I plan to get back to the States next week and hit the ground running in terms of meeting with future and current customers.
BNamericas: Will you be reaching to all of them, regardless of where you worked in the past?
Winters: My remit will be all of the baby scalers and hyperscalers.
BNamericas: Baby scalers?
Winters: Yes. Maybe some companies that haven’t quite gone big yet, this would be more content, CDN [content delivery networks], and related providers.
As you know, Elea Data Centers has started by evolving ecosystems, interconnection, and this is a very important segment to the company. As the company scales, it would be a mix of both of those, those players.
BNamericas: Is Elea structuring a team under your role? Is the company expanding its international arms?
Winters: The plan will be to expand the international sales organization under me. But this is still something under discussion right now, how we’re hoping to expand. We hope that we’ll be able to have a good discussion and plan to share with you in the next couple of months.
BNamericas: And the focus is just on US companies or is the company eying European or Asian customers?
Winters: Right now, the US is the priority, but there is a lot of demand coming out of US as well with AI.
BNamericas: Is there any prior restriction to Chinese companies, on them buying capacity and energy here in Brazil from Elea?
Winters: That’s a good question. On the long term we can evaluate that, but our focus is really the US right now.
(The original version of this content was written in English)
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