Vantage Data Centers named Alicia Ruckteschler as chief procurement officer, tasking her with leading the company’s global sourcing and supplier strategy as it scales hyperscale campuses to meet AI-driven demand. She will report to Jeff Tench, global executive vice president, and will be based in Denver.
Ruckteschler will oversee end-to-end procurement across design, construction, capital equipment, power sourcing and long-term operations. Vantage said she will embed procurement more deeply into the full project lifecycle, aligning supplier decisions with technical roadmaps and execution milestones. The company continues expanding across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific as hyperscalers accelerate AI and cloud infrastructure buildouts.
Ruckteschler joins Vantage from Equinix, where she served as senior vice president and chief procurement officer. She led a global team of more than 140 professionals overseeing procurement for 275 data centers in 75 markets, covering power, network infrastructure, software and construction services. Earlier, she managed infrastructure commodity sourcing at Google, supporting large-scale data center deployments and supplier risk mitigation. In 2024, she advised the bipartisan U.S. House AI Task Force on data center infrastructure, energy and supply chain considerations.
- Leads global procurement strategy across capital equipment, construction, power and network infrastructure
- Supports Vantage’s hyperscale campus expansion across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific
- Brings prior procurement leadership from Equinix and Google
- Advised U.S. House AI Task Force on AI-related infrastructure and supply chain issues
“Alicia brings an exceptional combination of strategic vision, operational rigor and deep hyperscale infrastructure experience to the Vantage leadership team,” said Jeff Tench, global executive vice president at Vantage Data Centers.
🌐 Analysis: Procurement has emerged as a strategic lever in AI-era data center construction, where long lead times for transformers, switchgear, generators and high-voltage equipment can delay multi-megawatt campus deliveries. By elevating procurement to the C-suite, Vantage aligns sourcing, energy strategy and supplier resilience with hyperscaler build cycles.
Hyperscale operators and colocation providers such as Equinix and Digital Realty continue expanding capacity to support GPU-intensive AI clusters, driving competition for power infrastructure and construction services. Vantage’s appointment signals tighter integration between supply chain management and execution as AI workloads reshape capital allocation across global data center markets.
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