Portuguese data center company Start Campus has appointed a new CEO, after the previous one was arrested in a corruption scandal that saw the country’s prime minister ousted.

Start this week announced the appointment of Robert Dunn as chief executive officer, effective immediately. He has been serving as interim CEO since November 2023.

The company also announced Luis Rodrigues as chief operating officer.

Dunn said: “I am excited to continue leading Start Campus as CEO at this critical moment in the company’s growth. I remain deeply dedicated to our mission to deliver and grow sustainable data center ecosystems by setting new industry standards. Our commitment towards offering flexible and future-proof solutions to our customers drives everything we do, and I am fortunate to be supported by an exceptionally talented group of people who share these values and are equally invested in the growth of Start Campus.”

Start, owned by US investment fund Davidson Kempner and the British Pioneer Point Partners, is planning a 495MW campus on more than 60 hectares of land adjacent to a recently decommissioned coal power plant in the city of Sines on the Portuguese coast. Announced in 2021, ground was broken on the Start project in 2022. The first building is close to completion.

Joining in April 2022, Dunn was previously Start’s head of design and delivery. He was appointed interim CEO of Start in November 2023, after the company was involved in a corruption scandal that saw Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, resign.

Start’s then-CEO Afonso Salema was amongst those arrested amid investigations of alleged “misuse of funds, active and passive corruption by political figures, and influence peddling.”

Salema resigned from the company in November 2023, alongside chief of legal and sustainability Rui Oliveira Neves, who was also arrested. Salema has since founded an investment advisory firm called Light Fossil.

New COO Rodrigues joined Start Campus in 2021 as the head of data center operations, coming from Google.