nLighten appoints new CEO and CFO
Author: Joe Peck
European data centre operator nLighten has appointed Dame Dawn Childs as Chief Executive Officer and Matthew Harris as Chief Financial Officer, as demand for edge data centres increases across Europe.
Dawn joins from Pure Data Centres Group, where she spent nearly five years, initially as Chief Operating Officer before becoming Chief Executive Officer in May 2023. She will continue as a non-executive director at Pure Data Centres during the transition.
Prior to this, she led a multi-billion-pound transformation programme at National Grid, covering gas and electricity transmission. Earlier roles include Group Engineering Director at Merlin Entertainments, Head of Engineering at Gatwick Airport, and 23 years as an Engineering Officer in the Royal Air Force.
Matthew brings more than 15 years’ experience across private equity-backed and listed businesses in digital infrastructure, technology, and investment. He joins from Kao Data, where he was a founding board member, investor director, and Chief Financial Officer from 2021.
Before that, he was CFO at Goldacre Ventures, where he supported growth and secured more than £250 million in funding for portfolio companies.
The appointments come as demand for distributed digital infrastructure grows, driven by artificial intelligence, cloud connectivity, and high-bandwidth applications. nLighten says it is continuing its expansion across European markets, including through acquisitions and investment in infrastructure.
Nick Read, Chairman of nLighten, comments, “We are delighted to welcome Dawn and Matthew to nLighten. Dawn’s deep experience leading complex, mission-critical infrastructure businesses makes her exceptionally well suited to guide the company’s continued growth, while Matthew’s strong financial and strategic expertise will be invaluable as we scale the platform.
“As AI drives unprecedented demand for digital infrastructure and edge capacity across Europe, nLighten is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity.
“I would also like to thank Harro Beusker for his leadership and the pivotal role he has played in building nLighten into the platform it is today. With such strong foundations in place, we are well positioned to continue delivering sustainable, high-performance data centre solutions for our customers.”
Expansion plans following rising edge infrastructure demand
Dame Dawn Childs says, “I am thrilled to be joining the team at nLighten at such a pivotal time for both the company and the broader digital infrastructure sector.
“The opportunity for nLighten to play a meaningful role in supporting Europe’s growing need for digital sovereignty is significant, particularly as demand for secure, high-performance, and sustainable infrastructure continues to accelerate.”
Matthew Harris adds, “I am excited to join nLighten as it continues to build momentum across Europe. The company has a clear strategy and strong platform on which to build from.
“I look forward to working with the team to support its continued expansion and deliver long-term value for customers and stakeholders.”
Harro Beusker, who co-founded nLighten in 2021 and has served as CEO since then, will remain on the board as a non-executive director. He will also act as a senior advisor to I Squared Capital.
Since launching, nLighten has developed a European platform of 34 data centres across seven countries, with 22MW of capacity, through acquisitions, carve-outs, and brownfield developments. It says its carrier-neutral sites are located in established data centre markets and support deployments closer to end users and latency-sensitive applications.
As AI adoption increases and power constraints affect established data centre hubs, organisations are placing greater focus on edge infrastructure to meet performance and capacity requirements.
Dawn joined nLighten on 5 May 2026 and will assume the CEO role on 1 June 2026 following a transition period. Matthew will join as CFO on 1 July 2026.
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