Mertens spent the last decade at AWS where she developed strategies for, and expanded, existing and new hyperscale infrastructure geographies across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
She said in a press statement: “We are living through a time of accelerated digital transformation. Delivering reliable, resilient and responsible digital infrastructure to customers is mission critical and I’m really proud to be part of a company that has been leading the way in designing and operating cutting-edge data centres for more than ten years. I look forward to helping VIRTUS deliver operational excellence to customers across EMEA.”
In her new role Mertens will lead the expansion strategy for the region as well as business development and is tasked with defining and executing go-to-market strategies, including identifying and launching Virtus operations in Europe and seeking acquisition opportunities throughout her region. She reports to MD Darren Watkins.
No doubt she will draw on her experiences at AWS where she expanded the existing AWS data centre regions in colocation and self-built facilities, as well as launched new region geographies as the country manager.
In an earlier role as data center divestiture principal at AWS, Mertens worked alongside large strategic hyperscale cloud customers, advising them on their infrastructure assets and developing new models to facilitate and enhance their cloud migration journey.
Watkins said: “It’s an exciting time to be part of VIRTUS. We have seen amazing growth in cloud and digital transformation with the London data centre market now close to 1GW, having doubled every five years since 2010. Christina has joined our team to help drive our growth across EMEA. With her strong track record of strategic and decisive business leadership, as well as her extensive regional knowledge, it’s clear Christina will be a great asset to our company.”
