Nomad Futurist

What does it take to build a career in an industry that is constantly evolving? For Tara Risser, Chief Business Officer at Cologix, the answer comes down to staying curious, embracing the unfamiliar, and building relationships that last.
Recorded live at DCF Trends Summit, this episode of the Nomad Futurist Podcast brings Tara together with co-hosts Nabeel Mahmood and Phillip Koblence to explore her unconventional career journey, customer-focused leadership, and the future of digital infrastructure.
Tara reflects on the importance of remaining open to new opportunities, learning as you go, and being willing to take on challenges before you have all the answers. Her perspective offers a reminder that career growth often comes from curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone.
“Once you've proved that you can think and learn, people are willing to give you chances.”
That same mindset carries into her approach to leadership and business strategy. Tara explains why understanding a customer's broader goals is essential to building trust and making thoughtful decisions. By asking the right questions and looking beyond immediate needs, leaders can better understand where a business is headed and how to support its long-term success.
The conversation also explores artificial intelligence and the growing need for the data center industry to communicate its value. Tara challenges the industry's tendency to focus on technological hype rather than the real-world outcomes AI could deliver. As she puts it:
“Frankly, AI itself is actually being harmed by the way that AI is being talked about.”
For Tara, building public trust starts with making the benefits of digital infrastructure easier to understand, moving beyond technical jargon, and engaging authentically with the communities where data centers operate. The discussion highlights why connecting industry innovation to tangible benefits for people and society is increasingly important.
Tara's most enduring lesson is that career success is built on the relationships we invest in along the way. Skills and experience matter, but the trust, connections, and people who support us are what give our careers lasting meaning:
“My biggest takeaways from my career are relationships are the things that make it all worth it.”
Listen to the full episode for Tara's insights on embracing career opportunities, leading with the customer in mind, and helping more people understand the infrastructure behind our increasingly connected world.
To learn more about Tara Risser, connect with her on LinkedIn.

While much of the digital infrastructure industry chases hyperscale and the next AI-driven mega campus, some of the most interesting opportunities are sitting in plain sight, in the legacy assets everyone else has stopped paying attention to.
In this episode of the Nomad Futurist Podcast, recorded live from the Data Center Frontier Summit in Reston, Virginia, co-hosts Nabeel Mahmood and Phillip Koblence sit down with Lawrence Vo, VP of M&A at Centersquare, for a conversation on career reinvention, the overlooked value of colocation, and what it will take for the industry to earn back the public's trust.
Lawrence's path into digital infrastructure ran through the 2008 financial crisis, distressed mortgage-backed securities, and a stint in private equity that helped seed T5 Data Centers and launch IPI Partners, before five years on Equinix's global corporate development team as its market cap grew from roughly $30 billion to $80 billion. That path led him to Centersquare, the Brookfield-backed colocation platform, where he now leads M&A — and where he sees the real opportunity in an unglamorous, underpriced corner of the market while most capital chases hyperscale and the NeoCloud, GPU-rental model:
“I'm noticing significantly underpriced assets in this sector, and I'm also noticing a lack of competitive bidding too.”
On the industry's public trust problem, Lawrence is blunt about who shouldn't be carrying the message:
“You can't have tech bros and Elon Musk and Kevin O'Leary be the voice of this industry right now.”
And on what he'd tell his younger self, a piece of advice for every industry, not just this one:
“I think step one is learn how to vibe code… learn how to direct agents to do the coding, because that skill set is gonna apply to every industry, in my opinion, in the next five years. No matter what you do.”
Tune in for Lawrence Vo's insights on career reinvention, the underappreciated colocation market, and the future of digital infrastructure, and connect with Lawrence on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.

AI is reshaping digital infrastructure at an unprecedented pace, redefining where opportunity lies, how leaders navigate change, and what it takes to build for what comes next.
In this episode of the Nomad Futurist Podcast, co-hosts Nabeel Mahmood and Phil Koblence sit down with Andy Stewart, CEO of Ionic Digital, for a wide-ranging conversation on career reinvention, leadership, powered land, AI, and the evolving infrastructure landscape.
Andy reflects on a career that began with ambitions of working on Wall Street and evolved across telecommunications, fiber, towers, data centers, and infrastructure investment. Along the way, he shares lessons on staying curious, communicating effectively, and embracing an unconventional path; especially as AI begins to reshape the skills that create the most value:
“Learning a set skill and just one skill is great for mastery, but in this environment where AI is doing kind of leveling the playing field… what really becomes valuable is thinking, asking questions, and orchestrating.”
The conversation also explores what effective leadership looks like in an industry moving at extraordinary speed. Andy emphasizes the importance of trust, clarity, and building teams that can move decisively through periods of growth and uncertainty:
“You need to move at the speed of trust. If you trust each other, trust the team, trust each other's capabilities, you can just move a lot faster.”
From there, the discussion turns to one of the defining challenges of the AI era: power.
Andy explores the growing value of power-rich assets, what it takes to prepare them for AI workloads, and why transmission, connectivity, reliability, and timing are becoming critical factors in data center development. As he puts it:
“We’re gonna help monetize energy through data centers.”
As AI accelerates demand for digital infrastructure, Andy's perspective underscores that the opportunity ahead will depend not only on power and technology, but on the people and leadership capable of turning that opportunity into reality.
Tune in for Andy Stewart’s insights on career reinvention, leadership, AI, energy, and the future of digital infrastructure, and connect with Andy on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.

In the latest episode of the Nomad Futurist Podcast, co-hosts Nabeel Mahmood and Phillip Koblence sit down with Bill Winsininski for a conversation that goes well beyond data center capacity, AI demand, and the rapid growth of digital infrastructure.
Bill’s path into the industry is anything but conventional. From his early years as a Navy search-and-rescue diver and English literature student at Berkeley to leadership roles spanning sales, consulting, AFCOM Chicago, and digital infrastructure, his career has shaped a lasting belief: the infrastructure may be physical, but the industry is fundamentally built on people.
“It has everything to do with the people. A hundred percent. And solving problems creatively with those people.”
That philosophy has guided Bill throughout his career. He reflects on understanding the perspectives of operations teams, facilities professionals, end users, and customers. Not simply to close a deal, but to build the trust that makes long-term partnerships possible. Even a single rack can represent the future of a customer’s business, making the work deeply personal.
The conversation also explores one of the industry’s most pressing challenges: earning the trust of the communities where digital infrastructure is being built.
As data centers become larger, more visible, and increasingly connected to the growth of AI, the industry is facing greater public scrutiny. Bill acknowledges that the sector has not always evolved quickly enough to explain its impact or engage communities meaningfully.
“We didn’t evolve to this point gracefully. It happened. It dropped on our lap.”
For Bill, building trust requires more than technical explanations or broad assurances. Communities want to understand how these projects support local contractors, create jobs, strengthen infrastructure and public services, and contribute to long-term economic development.
Bill also shares an optimistic perspective on the next generation entering the industry. Through his work with AFCOM Chicago and its emerging-professional programs, he has seen firsthand the curiosity, confidence, and energy young professionals bring to the sector. His advice is simple: don’t wait until you feel ready.
Go to the event. Introduce yourself. Take the difficult meeting. Ask the question. Get uncomfortable. And, most importantly, be willing to fail.
“Don’t be afraid to fail. In your twenties, don’t be afraid to fail. Do it. Take those chances. Get uncomfortable.”
Bill’s story is ultimately a reminder that the future of digital infrastructure will not be defined by technology alone. It will be shaped by the people who build it, the relationships they create, and the trust they earn along the way.
Listen to the full episode of the Nomad Futurist Podcast for stories from the early days of colocation, reflections on leadership and mindfulness, insights on mentoring the next generation, and Bill’s perspective on building a more trusted, connected, and community-minded digital infrastructure industry.
To learn more about Bill Winsininski, connected with him on LinkedIn.

In a recent episode of the Nomad Futurist Podcast, hosts Nabeel Mahmood and Phillip Koblence welcome Cathal Quinn, CEO of MOY Roof Waterproofing System Specialists, for a deeply personal and inspiring conversation about resilience, redemption, and the experiences that shape great leaders.
Today, Cathal leads an industry-recognized business supporting critical infrastructure and data centers, but his journey to executive leadership was far from conventional. In a candid discussion, Cathal reflects on his early ambitions in athletics, the struggles that led him to the darkest point of his life, his battle with severe gambling addiction, and the long road of accountability, healing, and purpose that followed.
Long before stepping into the business world, Cathal was a teenager driven by basketball. At just twelve years old, he was working illegal pub shifts to afford his basketball shoes, finding purpose and belonging on the court. Those early experiences shaped the values that continue to define his leadership today: accountability, resilience, teamwork, and the ability to move forward after failure.
For Cathal, sports taught him an important lesson: mistakes are inevitable, but self-pity cannot be allowed to define the outcome:
“When you make a mistake, don't you dare hang your head and feel sorry for yourself... There's no time for self-pity."
However, Cathal’s journey also brought him to an incredibly difficult chapter. After reaching what he describes as rock bottom, he found himself standing at the edge of the Cliffs of Moher, contemplating ending his life. In that moment, it was not confrontation or judgment that changed his path, but compassion from an off-duty police officer who approached him with empathy and understanding.
That encounter became a defining moment in Cathal’s life, reinforcing the power of human connection and the importance of meeting people where they are:
“And that sentence that sticks with me to today... was probably the first time in my life that I remember an adult not being overly authoritative, and the words that I remember was, ‘You do not have to do this today.’”
Following treatment and the support of a mentor who recognized his potential, Cathal began the difficult process of rebuilding his life. Years later, he returned to MOY — the company he had once left — and took on the responsibility of leading it forward. His story is not simply one of overcoming adversity, but of committing every day to becoming a better person, parent, and leader.
Reflecting on his transformation, Cathal shares:
“I am so proud of the person I am today. I'm so happy with who I am today... I'm doing everything in my power today to be the best version I can be of myself, and that's all I can truly do.”
Cathal Quinn’s story is a powerful reminder that leadership is not defined by a perfect path, but by the courage to confront challenges, learn from the past, and continue moving forward. His journey demonstrates the impact of second chances, personal accountability, and the resilience required to create meaningful change.
Connect with Cathal Quinn on LinkedIn to continue the conversation and learn more about his experiences, insights, and leadership journey.