There is a photograph Nancy Novak keeps in her mind from childhood: construction sites full of cranes, backhoes and noise, where her father worked alongside people building something that would outlast all of them. It is a long way from those job sites to the executive suite at Compass Datacenters, where Novak serves as chief innovation officer. But the throughline is clear.  

“The people on those sites were coming together to do something big and important that would last long after the project was over,” she says. “That was so impressive to me, and I was hooked.” 

That sense of permanence matters more than ever in 2025. Data centres, long dismissed as the plumbing of the digital economy, have become some of the most strategically significant buildings on earth. 

AI is driving demand at a pace that has caught even seasoned industry observers off guard, and the race to build capacity is running headlong into a skilled labour shortage that threatens to become a genuine bottleneck for the global economy. 

Novak, who came out of retirement to join Compass nearly a decade ago, believes the industry’s workforce problem and its diversity problem are, at root, the same problem. Solving one, she argues, means solving the other. 

“We need to attract more people to careers in data centres, and the only way we can do that is to cast a wider net,” she says.

“Creating ‘new collar’ career pathways, high-paying technical roles that do not require a traditional four-year degree, is one crucial step. By developing programmes with technical trade colleges, we can provide training and long-term career progression for a broader range of the population.” 

The more striking part of Novak’s argument is not about recruitment campaigns or mentorship programmes. It is about concrete, quite literally. Compass has moved aggressively towards off-site, modular construction: components are manufactured in controlled factory environments and assembled on site, rather than built from scratch in the open air. The business case is compelling on its own terms.

Novak points out that off-site manufacturing allows her teams to erect plenums in five days with a crew of 10, against two months and a crew of twenty using traditional methods. 

But the knock-on effect on workforce composition has been, in her words, a gamechanger. “Moving construction into a controlled, off-site environment makes the work safer and allows for more predictable, regular work hours,” she says. The result is a workforce that looks nothing like the rest of the industry: at Compass, nearly all construction managers are women – a statistic that would be remarkable in any sector, but is virtually unheard of in data centre construction. 

“I would tell any CEO that one of the best steps they can take for solving their workforce and growth challenges is to make innovation a true core conviction,” Novak says. “It doesn’t just improve your product; it fundamentally changes who can participate in building it.” 

This is not a secondary benefit. For Novak, it is the point. The same modular logic that reduces build times and improves quality control is the mechanism through which the industry can stop fishing in the same narrow talent pool it has relied on for decades. 

From the only woman in the room to the stage at Datacloud Global Congress

Novak is speaking ahead of Datacloud Global Congress, which this year opens with an all-female speaker line-up. She is careful not to let the symbolism obscure the substance.  

“I definitely see it as evidence of a deeper shift in the industry,” she says. “It is wonderful to kick off Datacloud in this way, but it’s not just here. I can also see the shift happening in who attends data centre conferences, who is in business meetings, and who is on job sites.” 

Earlier in her career, she was frequently the only woman on a job site or in a meeting room. The industry, she says plainly, was not welcoming. “It could be a very difficult environment and very frustrating.”  

What has changed is not merely optics. There are more women in senior roles, better support networks, and, crucially, a growing recognition from leadership that diversity is inseparable from the capacity to innovate at scale. 

“When an industry is moving this fast, there is a temptation to just put your head down, assume you know best, and stick to old habits,” she says. “But to scale sustainably and responsibly, you have to possess the humility to stop, realise you don’t have all the answers, and genuinely listen to your communities, your partners, and your workforce.” 

For Novak, the message to women considering a career in the sector is rooted in exactly that sense of consequence. “We are building the unseen backbone of local economies and global connection,” she says.  

“Women in our industry can see the impact they are having not only on their companies but on building the future. Engineering isn’t just about what you build; it’s about how you build it and how it benefits the local community. If you want to feel like you are making a lasting difference, this is the place to be.” 

Novak will be joining Noelle Walsh, president of Microsoft Cloud Operations + Innovation, and Rachel Peterson, VP of data centres at Meta, for the highly anticipated opening keynote at the Datacloud Global Congress in Cannes. This landmark session not only showcases the sector’s leading voices but also reflects the industry’s evolving commitment to diversity and innovation. Those interested in attending this influential event can register by clicking here.

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