Apx Data Centre Solutions is strengthening its ability to drive innovation and growth across Europe’s data centre market thanks to three key leadership appointments.
The arrival of new faces follows news of the LFB Group’s data centre division formally rebranding to ‘Apx’. Backed by the LFB Group’s sixty-year engineering, HVAC and refrigeration legacy, Apx provides the advanced heat rejection infrastructure essential for high-density, mission-critical environments.
At the heart of the company’s next chapter are the appointments of Kris Wauters, Stuart Newman and Philippe Torres, who—combined—bring over seven decades’ of sales and engineering expertise in the HVAC, IT cooling systems and data centre industries.
Formerly of Mitsubishi Electric, Kris joins as Enterprise Manager for the Benelux region (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), working alongside household names in telecom, precision laboratory cooling and mid-market data centres.
A specialist in sales and operations management, Kris joins at a crucial moment in the Benelux region—with Belgium in particular facing a period of rapid data centre momentum, which he looks to capitalise on using his local and technical knowledge.
Stuart joins the team as Business Development Manager for the UK, Ireland and European markets, where he will work alongside consultants and contractors, as well as enterprise, hyperscale and neo-cloud end users, to develop reference designs and specifications for data centre projects.
With a background in engineering, sales and logistics resilience, Stuart will bridge the gap between technical cooling innovation and client needs, championing Apx’s ‘engineering in partnership’ model; an approach which sees its specialist engineering team work closely with customers to develop tailored solutions based around a project’s expected demands, now and into the future.
Completing the trio, Philippe joins the company from competitors FläktGroup and Schneider Electric, where he managed precision cooling solutions for server rooms, data centres and broader HVAC systems.
As its new Business Development Director, and a native of France, he will focus on building long-term partnerships and maintaining customer satisfaction, helping businesses—across its portfolio of hyperscale, enterprise and co-location data centres—navigate a rapidly expanding national market. His emphasis on reliability, after-sales service and full lifecycle support will help operators maximise efficiency and minimise downtime as demand continues to grow.
Commenting on their collective appointments, Stuart, said:
“We’re really excited to join the Apx Data Centre Solutions team, not least because it’s such a critical moment for the industry, but also because there’s a real opportunity here to do something different. For such a long time, the sector has relied on ‘cookie-cutter’ strategies and specifications, but the pace of AI and rising rack densities means that those old blueprints no longer offer the technical certainty these critical environments need.
“The ethos here at Apx is about working side-by-side with our customers, not as a supplier but a partner, using our experience to develop tailored solutions that design out issues before they arise, and anticipating constraints that others may miss. By combining the experience of myself, Philippe and Kris, alongside the support of Apx’s talented team and the LFB Group’s state-of-the-art facilities across Europe, we’re uniquely positioned to help customers navigate the challenges yet to come.
CEO at Apx, Matt Evans, added:
“One of my main ambitions for the company, when we set out almost a year and a half ago, was to build a team of real experts—specialists driven by innovation and a drive to do more—to genuinely help our customers across the globe by putting to use backgrounds in mechanical and electrical engineering, design and, most importantly, an experience of how big projects are successfully executed.
“Together, these three names bring just that; years of hands-on experience, deep industry knowledge and a relentless focus on customer needs. Their leadership will continue to drive the division forward, helping us deliver practical, agile solutions that solve real customer challenges. With their experience, I’ve no doubt they’ll help to raise the bar across the data centre sector, setting new standards for service, reliability and long-term partnerships that our clients can depend on.”
The appointments take the data centre business’ current headcount to 23, with plans earmarked to further grow its dedicated team to 50 by 2027, with roles spanning across Europe.
For more information on Apx and its products, visit https://www.apx-dcs.com/en/.
