Vertiv has appointed Frieda He as Chief Procurement Officer, drawing on her background managing multi-billion-dollar supply chains through the electric vehicle transition to address the accelerating hardware demands of AI-driven data centre expansion.
Frieda He joins Vertiv from Polestar, where she served as CPO from December 2023 to March 2026, overseeing more than $3 billion in annual global spend across direct and indirect materials, supplier quality, R&D industrial programmes, and real estate.
Before Polestar, He spent years at Volvo Cars in senior procurement roles, including vice president and head of global propulsion and sustainability procurement, where she led a spend organisation exceeding $9 billion annually and helped steer the company through its electrification pivot. The parallels with data centre procurement are not decorative: both involve long-lead-time hardware, concentrated supplier relationships, and rapid demand shifts driven by technology transitions.
Her mandate at Vertiv covers the full portfolio — end-to-end power and thermal management solutions for data centres, communications networks, and commercial and industrial applications — with an explicit focus on supply chain resilience and supplier quality. Vertiv operates in more than 130 countries and is listed on the NYSE under the ticker VRT.
"Her expertise in complex, multinational procurement environments and her track record of driving operational discipline and value creation will be critical as Vertiv continues to scale to meet accelerating demand from AI-driven and high-density digital infrastructure," said Gio Albertazzi, Vertiv's chief executive officer.
He acknowledged the timing directly. "Vertiv's role at the centre of the global data centre and critical infrastructure ecosystem presents a unique opportunity to create value through strong partnerships, operational excellence, and responsible, resilient supply chains," she said.
He holds bachelor's degrees from Northeast Normal University in China and an executive MBA from the University of Oxford.
Her expertise in complex, multinational procurement environments and her track record of driving operational discipline and value creation will be critical as Vertiv continues to scale to meet accelerating demand from AI‑driven and high‑density digital infrastructure.
Vertiv's role at the centre of the global data centre and critical infrastructure ecosystem presents a unique opportunity to create value through strong partnerships, operational excellence, and responsible, resilient supply chains.
