Digital Realty promotes exec to CFO seat

Dive Brief:

Matt Mercier was named CFO of Austin, Tex.-based Digital Realty, effective Jan. 1, the company announced Tuesday.
The newly minted finance chief has been with Digital Realty since 2006 and was promoted from his most recent position of senior vice president of global finance and accounting.
The appointment comes amid other leadership changes at the global data center platform provider— Andrew Power, the company’s former CFO, was also promoted to CEO, the company announced Dec. 13. Power succeeds William Stein, who was terminated from the top executive seat “without cause” according to a Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

Dive Insight:

Since joining Digital Realty around 15 years ago, Mercier has held various positions at increasing responsibility levels, the release said, including leading corporate planning and capital markets, managing integration projects, overseeing joint ventures and taking on the role of principal accounting officer.

Prior to joining Digital Realty, Mercier held senior positions at Equity Office Properties Trust, a real estate development company, and KPMG, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The company — a global data center real estate investment trust (REIT) — owns over 291 data centers and serves big name customers like Facebook, IBM, JPMorgan and Oracle. In the second half of 2022, they faced foreign exchange headwinds due to the strong dollar and inflation, according to Seeking Alpha.

The REIT reported revenues of $1.2 billion for the third quarter of 2022, a 5% increase from the previous quarter and a 5% increase from the same quarter last year.

Power, the newly minted top executive of the company, has also hogged lengthy experience during his time at the REIT, having served multiple roles with responsibilities including global portfolio operations and serving as a member of the lead underwriting team for the company’s initial public offering back in 2004, according to the company statement.

Stein, his predecessor, is eligible to receive a cash separation payment of approximately $10.7 million, as well as various other separation payments and benefits, per the non-cause termination provisions of Stein’s employment agreement with the company, according to the Dec. 13 SEC filing.