Verne appoints Sam Wicks as Head of Design & Product Development

Verne, a leading provider of sustainable data center solutions for high intensity computing, today announced the appointment of Sam Wicks as Head of Design and Product Development, further expanding the senior leadership team of the company. Based in London, Wicks will lead the strategic design and execution of infrastructure programmes across the company’s expanding data center portfolio. 

With nearly 15 years' experience in data center engineering and technical infrastructure, Wicks brings invaluable expertise to Verne. Most recently, he served as a global infrastructure Technical Lead at Google, where he oversaw the creation, design and execution of strategic programmes to significantly expand Google’s global capacity for cloud services. Other roles at Google included responsibility for the creation and ownership of technical and commercial review processes, driving standardisation and reducing expansion costs through design innovations and strengthened supply chain relationships. 

At Verne, Wicks will lead the design for Verne’s expanding portfolio of AI-ready data centers throughout the Nordic region. His approach will focus on pioneering design approaches, cost-effective construction techniques, and adaptability to meet evolving customer requirements. Verne has built for high intensity compute from day one, continuously innovating to stay ahead of emerging compute demands.  Wicks’ strategic vision and leadership will amplify Verne’s commitment to sustainability, innovation, and operational excellence. 

"Sustainability and innovation are the cornerstones of our mission at Verne. We have always built for the future, ensuring our infrastructure anticipates and evolves with the accelerating pace of compute demand," said Tate Cantrell, CTO at Verne. "Sam’s track record of leading large-scale infrastructure projects aligns perfectly with our vision. His expertise will be crucial as we continue to scale our operations and meet the critical AI and high-performance compute infrastructure needs of our customers.” 

“I’m thrilled to join Verne at such an exciting time,” said Sam Wicks. “The company’s rapid growth, combined with the chance to shape data centers built for the future of AI at gigawatt scale, is a compelling opportunity. Verne’s history of pushing design boundaries for high-density data centers is unparalleled. I look forward to advancing these principles and delivering next-generation solutions for our clients.”