Data Center Exchange with Mara Ervin: Why community buy-in matters

In the latest episode of Data Center Exchange, a Harper Harrison podcast created to spotlight the key topics, conversations and people shaping the data center industry, Del Connolly is joined by Mara Ervin, Director of Data Center Development at Stonebridge.

This episode focuses on one of the biggest challenges facing digital infrastructure today: community engagement.

As the demand for data centers continues to grow, building the next generation of digital infrastructure is no longer just an engineering, financing or power challenge. Increasingly, success depends on earning the trust of the communities these projects are built to serve.

With local opposition, public concern and moratoriums becoming a bigger part of the conversation, Del and Mara explore why communities are pushing back, what the industry can learn from this moment, and how developers can approach future projects with more transparency from the start.

Meet the Guest: Mara Ervin

Mara Ervin is Director of Data Center Development at Stonebridge, bringing over 20 years of global experience across mission-critical infrastructure.

Her background spans site acquisition, design, construction and ongoing operations, with experience supporting data center clients across power, space, cooling and connectivity. Before joining Stonebridge, Mara held leadership roles at CommScope, WESCO and Corning Cable Systems, and founded Mara Jade Consulting to advise clients across the digital infrastructure ecosystem.

In this episode, Mara shares her perspective on community engagement, adaptive reuse, workforce development and why bringing local communities into the conversation early is becoming critical to the future of data center development.

We hope you enjoy the latest episode of Data Center Exchange.

Want to listen to this episode on the go? Check out the links below:

🎧 Listen on Spotify Podcasts here.
🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts here.

Learn more about Stonebridge:

www.stonebridge.us.com 

For career opportunities, market insight and more, click here.