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T. Michael Cornelia
Athens, GA · LinkedIn · Contact
Data center operations executive with 13+ years at Meta, leading infrastructure operations through fleet expansion from under 1 GW to over 12 GW. Currently directing operations for a 14-site region representing approximately one quarter of the company's GPU fleet and power capacity. Expertise spans new region commissioning, workforce strategy, AI-driven operations, cloud/colo hybrid models, quality systems, and organizational design at hyperscale.
Experience
Director, Global Operations — South Region
Direct all site operations for Meta's South region — 14 data center campuses across Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, and international leased facilities. Manage 8 direct reports overseeing production operations, capacity delivery, and site readiness across 2,500+ MW of infrastructure.
Scale & Growth
- Own the largest regional concentration of AI compute infrastructure in Meta's fleet — approximately one quarter of global GPU capacity and total megawatts
- Scaling region from ~900 MW to ~2,500 MW in two years, including a 500+ MW cluster purpose-built for generative AI training
- Oversee 12+ concurrent new builds, expansions, temporary structures, and leased activations delivering 150–330 MW per quarter
New Region Turn-Up & Commissioning
- Delivered Meta's first all-Turin server region on schedule — pilot site for an accelerated capacity program targeting 80% reduction in fulfillment time
- Achieved 2,063 racks positioned at rates up to 750 racks/week with a single-day record of 200 racks
- Manage continuous pipeline of turn-ups across liquid-cooled facilities, rapid deployment structures, cable expansions, and leased data centers
Organizational Strategy & Workforce Planning
- Co-authored ring-aligned restructuring proposal — transformed operations from per-site management to infrastructure-ring-based model, achieving 34% management reduction while scaling to gigawatt-class campuses
- Designed and executed major organizational restructuring — centralized enablement functions, optimized headcount, and managed role eliminations while preserving tax incentive compliance
Capacity Planning & Risk Management
- Created region-level capacity delivery risk framework combining construction risk with operational signals into a unified, continuously refreshed executive dashboard
- Standardized capacity engineering processes, launched root cause corrective action (RCCA) framework, and established quarterly quality assessments
- Manage region against rack turn-up SLO (P90 < 5 days), redeployment SLO (P95 < 4 days), and decommission targets with per-site tracking
AI & Emerging Technology
- Established governance framework for converging AI initiatives — agentic AI for automated repair, human-in-the-loop troubleshooting agents, and AI-powered quality scoring
- Launched cloud operations pilot across multiple public cloud providers (OCI, GCP, and others), defining the support model for heterogeneous cloud infrastructure
Government Relations & Community
- Represent Meta in state-level legislative advocacy for data center tax incentive preservation — active on bills affecting hundreds of millions in exemptions
- Graduate of Leadership North Carolina; maintain statewide network of leaders across public and private sectors
- Manage relationships with government officials, economic development authorities, and community organizations across six states
Director, Site Operations — Stanton Springs, GA
Directed site operations for Meta's Stanton Springs (Newton County, GA) data center campus — one of the fastest-growing campuses in the fleet.
- Sponsored enterprise-wide Quality Metrics Workshop — produced a multi-tier composite scoring framework, retired legacy metrics, and introduced LLM-based quality assessment of repair tickets
- Built and deployed an operational excellence framework (1:1 templates, meeting cadences, analytics SOPs) adopted across all regions globally
- Launched diagnostic accuracy initiative to reduce repeat repairs and lower headcount growth — quantified cost impact to justify tooling investments
- Led insourcing business case analyzing contingent vs. FTE economics across 500+ positions, including staffing models for gigawatt-scale sites through 2030
- Built government and community relationships across Newton County and the state of Georgia
Data Center Operations Manager — Stanton Springs, GA
Managed infrastructure operations teams at Meta's Stanton Springs campus during a period of rapid expansion and new building commissioning.
- Owned all capacity-related projects across the campus, including new building commissioning and expansion phases
- Managed cross-functional coordination across construction, production operations, and headquarters teams for turn-up, turn-down, and retrofit execution
- Developed operational processes and standards subsequently adopted at other sites
- Mentored individual contributors across multiple technical teams
Data Center Operations Manager — Forest City, NC
Led infrastructure teams at Meta's North Carolina campus during rapid fleet expansion.
- Owned all capacity-related projects across the campus, including commissioning of the site's second data center building
- Managed cross-functional coordination across construction, production operations, and headquarters teams for turn-up, turn-down, and retrofit execution
- Developed capacity processes adopted fleet-wide; mentored individual contributors across multiple teams
- Built local government and community engagement relationships at city and county levels
Earlier Career
System Engineer & Architect — SUM/IT Systems · 2004 – 2013
Designed and deployed systems solutions (Unix, Linux, VMware, Windows Server) for SMB customers. Co-created the company's cloud offering and managed full customer lifecycle from scoping through long-term support.
VP, Operations & Information Systems — The School Box, Inc. · 2000 – 2013
Directed technology operations for a multi-location Southeast retailer (~400 employees). Managed all infrastructure, partnered with CEO/CFO on strategy and budgets, and built the organization's primary knowledge management platform.
Core Competencies
Data Center Operations · Hyperscale Infrastructure (1 GW+) · New Site Commissioning · Liquid Cooling · Capacity Planning & Delivery · SLO Management · GPU Fleet Operations · AI/ML Training Clusters · Agentic AI for Operations · Multi-Cloud (OCI, AWS, GCP) · Colocation Management · Workforce Strategy · Insourcing Analysis · Organizational Design · Quality Systems · Operational Excellence · Legislative Advocacy · Government Affairs
Education & Certifications
Leadership North Carolina — Graduate
University of Georgia — Business Management
Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)