The Digital Crossroads at Lake Michigan data center currently under construction in Hammond is pleased to announce the appointment of David Hood as the managing director of operations.

Hood brings over 24 years of experience in telecommunications and data center management to the project. In his most recent role, he was a director of operations with Netrality Properties, Inc. where he oversaw the development of a data center space in Chicago. Prior to that, he was a network operations center manager with New Continuum Holdings Corp. where he helped implement bandwidth and network upgrades within a purpose-built data center space.

Hood has over a decade of experience with telecommunications infrastructure, which will be a vital aspect of the new Hammond facility’s future development. In his former role as president and CEO of Backplane Integrated Networks Corp., Hood engineered over 200 miles of rural broadband in Indiana under a TARP grant. He was also often involved in multiple design and engineering projects intended to support future capacity needs.

“I’m very excited to get down to work,” Hood said. “To be on the ground level of a design like this that’s going to change how data centers operate and impact the environment is going to be fantastic.”

 “David’s skills are second to none when it comes to managing the technical and operations sides of facilities. We’re excited to have him with us,” said Peter Feldman, CEO, Digital Crossroads.

“Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb have each made a major commitment to creating technology jobs in Indiana,” stated Tom Dakich of Digital Crossroads. “Dave has moved to the region in part because of the state’s strong economy and the chance to be a part of Indiana’s emerging place in the national tech community.” 

The first phase of the Digital Crossroads project, already under construction, is a $40 million, 105,000-sq-ft facility that will include a data center and shared-space tech incubator. Ultimately, the project has the potential to grow into a $200 million complex with multiple buildings for state-of-the-art data computing and storage.