Executive Team

Wes Cummins currently serves as the CEO and Chairman of Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD) and is one of the company’s cofounders. Mr. Cummins is also the founder and CEO of 272 Capital LP, a registered investment advisor, which focuses primarily on investing in technology hardware, software, and services companies. Wes has been a technology investor for over 20 years and held various positions in capital markets including positions at investment banks and institutional asset management firms. Prior to founding 272 Capital, Wes led technology investing at Nokomis Capital, L.L.C., an investment advisory firm. Mr. Cummins serves as a member of the Board of Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS), a fabless designer, developer and supplier of cellular semiconductor solutions for massive, broadband and critical Internet of Things (IoT) markets. He also serves as a member of the board of Vishay Precision Group (NYSE: VPG) an internationally recognized designer, manufacturer and marketer of resistive foil technology, sensors, and sensor-based systems to niche, industrial applications. Wes holds a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis where he majored in finance and accounting.

David Rench is a Senior Financial Executive with experience leading the full spectrum of accounting, budgets, financial analysis, forecast planning, IT strategy, and reporting processes to achieve and exceed corporate financial goals. He has demonstrated expertise in developing and implementing streamlined tools and procedures to maximize departmental efficiency. Mr. Rench holds a BBA from the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and an MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University University. He is in Dallas, Texas.  Mr. Rench started his professional career as an analyst working for Citi Group and American Airlines.  He later led M&A transactions as a Senior Associate for Essilor of America.  Mr. Rench then co-founded and served as the VP of Finance and Operations for a software startup, ihiji, until the company was acquired by Control4 in 2017.  After the sale, Mr. Rench joined and served as Chief Financial Officer of Hirzel Capital.  Mr. Rench is skilled in talent management and focused on long-term business growth, revenue, and profitability.  He currently consults with and advises various companies and boards of directors.

Michael Maniscalco is a recognized speaker and technology leader across numerous industries. Mr. Maniscalco is a serial entrepreneur with multiple startups and exits and previously served as an Entrepreneur In Residence with StanleyX. He holds a degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Michael has been involved with software and network engineering for Fortune 1000 companies in the web3, IoT, financial, telecommunications, and healthcare industries for over 20 years.

Mr. Gale brings over 45 years of expertise in collaborating with hyperscalers, driving transformative initiatives in datacenter design, engineering, construction, mission-critical infrastructure, mechanical and electrical engineering, and large-scale projects. Previously, he served as Vice President of Engineering at Flexential. Flexential is a leading provider of secure and scalable datacenter solutions for hyperscalers and enterprises. Here, he strategically led the design, engineering, and implementation of all new datacenters and capacity upgrades. His notable achievements include designing North America's first UTI Tier IV Design Certified colocation datacenter, pioneering high-efficiency cooling systems, and deploying direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems for GPU customers.

During Mr. Gale’s time as Senior Vice President at Terremark Worldwide, he provided senior-level expertise and oversaw global technical direction including design, technology selections, construction, and engineering. His achievements included overseeing the rapid construction of the NAP of Americas, a 750,000 square foot datacenter completed in nine months.

Nick has owned and operated several technology companies across multiple industries since 1999. He previously owned a traditional data center with two locations and was instrumental in launching one of the largest North American Blockchain Hosting companies in North America in 2017 and 2018. He has been active in legislative affairs and government relations since 2013 and was lead in passing complex state-level legislation in 2015 and 2019. Nick enjoys simplifying complex projects and making them come to life in extremely compressed timelines through building relationships and technology.

Brad has executed over $2.5 billion in mission critical data center projects in the US and Mexico. More recently, he delivered multiple hyperscale, wholesale, and collocation data centers totaling over 150 megawatts for large REITs, social media clients and financial institutions.  Brad has held leadership roles in an ENR top 5 General Contractor working within Lump Sum, Design-Build, Design-Bid-Build, and Integrated Project Delivery contracts. He received a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Brigham Young University. He enjoys building the right teams and executing technical projects.

Roland Davidson is Applied Digital's EVP of Engineering. His goal is to provide leadership in electrical design for our facilities during construction and operations. Roland brings over 30 years of expertise to the team and specializes in substations, equipment manufacturing, power system design, maintenance of facilities, leadership, and managing subcontract trades. Roland is a graduate of the Saskatchewan Technical Institute and is a NETA Level IV Certified Technician. He combines his knowledge with the work ethic he acquired while being raised on the family farm to succeed in his projects. With an entrepreneurial spirit, Roland thrives in a fast-paced environment and effectively deals with the day-to-day technical challenges he encounters along the way. Roland will continue to leverage his proven track record of success to be a part of the team and help execute the rapid growth plan we all strive for.

Jackson’s distinguished career includes managing large scale projects for various commercial and government entities. Before joining Applied Digital, Jackson was SVP of Operations at Stream Data Centers (“Stream”) for the last two years. At Stream, he was responsible for all aspects of operations. Before Stream, Jackson was VP of Operations at Vantage Data Centers, where he assisted in cost reductions and was responsible for improving operational productivity as the lead of the Americas. While there, he oversaw the expansion from a 3-market entity to a leading global provider of hyperscale data centers. He also managed what was publicly reported as the world’s largest availability zone for Amazon Web Services, overseeing 1200MW of IT resources across 140 data centers and maintaining 99.999% availability.

Ms. Reed brings expertise in technology leadership including Artificial Intelligence and Analytics, Cyber Security, and Cloud Computing. Ms. Reed has served in various capacities at IBM Corporation since 2014. She has been Director of Sales, Red Hat since 2021. Prior to that she served as Strategic Partnership Executive, With Watson from 2019 to 2021, as Business Unit Executive, IBM Security Trusteer from 2017 to 2019 and initially as Strategy Leader – Enterprise Content Management, IBM Cloud. Ms. Reed continues to lead revenue generating teams, designing technology strategies that align with organizational goals, ensuring seamless integration and leveraging the latest advancements to drive business success.

Mr. Burke will be responsible for overseeing revenue-generating functions for the Company’s business, such as sales and customer success, and developing and executing global sales strategies. Burke will coordinate cross-functional alignment across sales, marketing, and growth offices to support revenue growth and client acquisition. He will also establish a client success organization for existing and new clients. Working closely with the Company’s CFO, he will be responsible for revenue projections and investment planning, leveraging his extensive experience in global sales strategies and AI initiatives to support Applied Digital's growth objectives. His extensive background in developing and executing global sales strategies and managing high-profile AI partnerships is anticipated to be instrumental in driving Applied Digital’s growth and expanding its market presence. Burke’s distinguished career includes serving as Vice President & Head of Global Sales for IBM Data & AI, a large-scale software division within IBM, where he led IBM’s AI partnership strategy globally. Joining IBM in 2010, Burke held numerous leadership roles, including Chief of Staff for IBM Data & AI, Americas OEM Sales Leader, and Data and AI Regional Sales Leader for the U.S. West. At IBM, Burke established go-to-market partnerships with leading growth-stage software companies in Data and AI.