Schneider Electric makes key data centre appointment

Author: Simon Rowley

Schneider Electric has announced the appointment of Nirupa Chander as Senior Vice President, Secure Power & Data Centres, International Operations.

In the role, Nirupa will lead a division of more than 700 professionals, supporting customers and partners in their digital transformation journeys and achieving their sustainability goals in an all-electric world across international zones, including MEA, EAP, Japan, India and South America.

“Understanding the complex and nuanced interplay between energy and data will be key to navigating the future of our industry,” says Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power, Data Centres & Global Services, Schneider Electric. “Nirupa’s experience and insight in this area will be invaluable in the ongoing digitalisation of the energy sector and our increasingly digital world.”

A veteran of the energy industry, Nirupa has extensive experience in energy grids, micro-grids, and automation, as well as project management, engineering, service and business development.

Beginning her career with India’s largest industrial electrical company, Nirupa progressed from project engineering roles through project management, and country manager roles with major engineering firms (such as ABB and Hitachi Energy) in Singapore and Australia before joining Schneider Electric in 2022 as Vice President of Power Systems for the Middle East and Africa.

Commenting on her appointment, Nirupa comments, “Early career experiences with controls and automation brought me into IT infrastructure, showing me how energy and data are increasingly intertwined. Working on microgrids highlighted the complexity of balancing the grid with energy storage technology and renewables – insights now applicable to creating sustainable data centres.

“It is exciting to see the strong coupling between data and energy, and I am excited about applying my knowledge and skills to this evolving field, especially with the anticipated growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on the industry.”

Nirupa holds a degree in Engineering from Gujarat University in Electronics and is a certified project management professional. She is a graduate of leadership programmes from both the Wharton School and INSEAD Executive Education.

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