Mainspring Energy

Christian Belady is a widely recognized pioneer in the data center industry, with over four decades of experience in global data center and infrastructure development and management. He retired from Microsoft in 2023 as Vice President of Data Center Research and Development for Microsoft’s Cloud Infrastructure Organization, where he led efforts developing transformative technologies for scaling cloud and AI infrastructure. Prior to that role, he led Microsoft’s Datacenter Development globally, including energy, site selection, engineering, construction and operations. Since then, he serves as an advisor and/or a board member for many infrastructure companies including DigitalBridge, Vantage and others. Mr. Belady is credited with creating the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metric used by the industry and has contributed significantly to industry standards and organizations like ASHRAE and The Green Grid. His industry recognition includes the 2017 DataCloud “Data Center Thought Leadership” Award, the iMasons “2020 Industry Luminary” Award, the 2023 Interglobix Titans List and the 2024 Northern Virginia Technology Council Data Center Icon Award. Recently he also was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (NAE). In 2025, Christian received the Data Center World Lifetime Achievement Award.