Former Equinix CEO Steve Smith has been named as Zayo Group Holding's new CEO while former CEO and founder Dan Caruso transitioned to the position of board director.
After teaming up to buy Zayo last year, Digital Colony and EQT picked Smith to pilot Zayo based on his more than 30 years of experience in leading tech companies.
“I’m excited to join Zayo as it begins its journey as a private company backed by two of the world’s largest infrastructure investors,” said Smith, in a statement. “Dan and I have known one another and partnered together as Zayo and Equinix emerged as the global leaders in their respective digital infrastructure segments.”
RELATED: Equinix CEO Steve Smith resigns over ‘poor judgment’ on employee matter
Smith had an 11-year run at Equinix before abruptly resigning two years ago due to “exercising poor judgment with respect to an employee matter,” Equinix said in announcing his departure. Smith also stepped down from Equinix’s board of directors.
Under Smith's guidance, Equinix's revenue grew from $400 million to $4.4 billion across 200 data centers, in 52 markets, serving over 10,000 customers.
Smith has had board of director and senior executive roles at several additional tech companies, including F5 Networks, Hewlett-Packard, EDS, NetApp and NEXTDC. Smith, a West Point graduate and eight-year Army veteran, was recently a managing director of the private equity firm GI Partners.
RELATED: Fiber provider Zayo is bought by 2 investment firms, plans to go private
As part of its new ownership structure, Zayo converted from a public company to a private company and kept its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado.
"I am pleased to hand the Zayo baton to Steve, who I respect and have enjoyed working with over the years,” Caruso said in a statement. “I am proud of what Zayo has accomplished since its launch in 2007. Under Steve’s stewardship, I’m certain Zayo will solidify its position as the world’s leading provider of bandwidth connectivity."
RELATED: DataBank to buy zColo data centers from Zayo
Last month, DataBank, which is also under the Digital Colony umbrella, announced it had a definitive agreement in place to buy Zayo Holding's zColo data centers. The zColo data centers would bring 44 additional data centers into the DataBank portfolio, including 13 key interconnect facilities across 23 markets in Europe and the U.S.
That deal is slated to close by the end of this year once it passes customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the deal weren't available.