Session 3: From Concept to Commissioning: How Projects Actually Get Built

Ashley Dirou brings more than 19 years of pump and water industry expertise to the rapidly evolving world of digital infrastructure. As an innovator driving Grundfos’ global data center strategy, she sits at the intersection of mechanical systems, sustainability, and mission critical operations helping the modern digital infrastructure’s engineers, contractors and operators design cooling and district energy solutions that keep the world’s digital backbone running while thinking in the most sustainable ways.

A former Division I athlete, Ashley channels that same competitive energy into accelerating innovation, strengthening strategic partnerships, and elevating performance across regions. Her work focuses on advancing high efficiency pumping technologies, optimizing water and energy use, and supporting the next generation of resilient, scalable data center environments while also being passionate about narrowing the known workforce gaps.

Known for her collaborative style and high impact approach, Ashley is passionate about bringing stakeholders together to solve complex challenges. She thrives in conversations about digital infrastructure trends, sustainability, and technologies shaping the future of advancing the flow of water.

She believes deeply that there is a possibility in every drop of water!

Liam Walsh - senior energy engineer at Thornton Tomasetti working within our Applied Science team primarily on decarbonization and energy-related projects. Past project experience at TT has included alternative on-site energy generation technology studies for a hyperscale datacenter client, technical due-diligence assessments of emerging low-carbon building materials companies (Series A-C stages), novel distributed energy systems assessments for deployments ranging from individual sites to entire campuses. Background is in mechanical engineering & sustainability, BSc from University of Dayton in 2020; previous work in public utility design and construction specializing in underground and overhead telecom and power networks.

Niall is a Senior Manager with FVB based in the Toronto office. He leads the business case development, detailed design and management of district energy projects with technologies such as Air Source Heat Pumps, Water Source Heat Pumps that utilize closed and open loop geo-exchange.
Niall consults for universities and colleges across North America on the development and execution of complex steam to hot water campus conversion projects and low carbon thermal energy networks. Niall is currently working with the City of Toronto, Mississauga, Kitchener, Pickering and the Federal Government of Canada to develop low carbon thermal energy networks. Niall is an advisor to municipal bodies to assist with the development of district energy systems in the Greater Toronto Area.

Ahmad Shams is the Director of Business Development at CenTrio, based in Chicago, where he plays a key role in advancing the company’s district energy solutions for the data center market. With a background in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Ahmad brings over eight years of experience in technical sales and energy-focused roles across industrial manufacturing sectors. His work has consistently emphasized sustainability and operational efficiency.

Since joining CenTrio, Ahmad has helped shape the company's go-to-market strategy for data centers and is actively engaged in the development of adaptive re-use and greenfield projects across the Chicago region. His insights are grounded in both engineering expertise and a strategic approach to clean energy infrastructure.

As Vice President of Development at Corix, Samson leads the origination, evaluation, and execution of new opportunities, combining engineering expertise with business acumen to deliver low-carbon energy systems. He guides projects from concept through feasibility, financing, construction, and delivery, aligning environmental goals with strong financial outcomes. With experience across North America, Samson brings technical fluency and strategic insight to complex development challenges, partnering with institutions, developers, municipalities, and First Nations to create sustainable urban energy solutions.