Princeton Digital Group expands leadership team across key markets in Asia Pacific - Former executives from Equinix, Baidu, STT GDC, and NTT join PDG
Singapore | October 3, 2019 – Singapore-based Princeton Digital Group (PDG), a Warburg Pincus-backed investor, developer, and operator of internet infrastructure, today announced the strengthening of its senior leadership team with the appointment of four senior executives. The expanded leadership team, with unmatched operating experience in the global telecom and internet infrastructure sectors, will chart the next stage of PDG’s ambitious growth in Asia. The executives, who will be based in Singapore, China, Indonesia, and India, are as follows:
- Wee Gee Ong, Chief Financial Officer
Wee Gee Ong has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and will be based in Singapore. Mr. Ong has over 25 years of experience, most recently as a Vice President at Equinix, a leading global data center provider. As the head of finance for Asia Pacific, he played a key role in Equinix’s growth across the region over the last 12 years, supporting their entry into new markets like China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia, and India. Prior to Equinix, Mr. Ong spent a dozen years at IBM in various capacities, including as CFO of IBM Singapore.
- Yanfei Zhao, Vice President, Engineering
In China, Yanfei Zhao joins PDG as Vice President of Engineering, from the Chinese internet company Baidu, where he was General Manager of Engineering, Planning and Construction. Mr. Zhao will be based in Shanghai. During an 8-year tenure at Baidu, he oversaw the development of all its hyperscale data centers across China.
- Stephanus Tumbelaka, Managing Director, Indonesia
In Indonesia, PDG has brought onboard Stephanus Tumbelaka as Managing Director.
Mr. Tumbelaka has deep operating experience in the country’s data center industry, most recently as a Vice President at NTT. Prior to NTT, he held leadership positions at Telkomsigma (Telkom Indonesia Group) and Data Center Infrastructure (DCI) Indonesia.
- Vipin Shirsat, Managing Director, India
In India, Vipin Shirsat joins PDG from ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC). Mr. Shirsat brings over 12 years of industry experience across multiple sectors including data center, mobile internet, and equity research. At STT GDC, he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Prior to this, Mr. Shirsat was a General Manager at Tata Communications.
“The track records, deep industry experience, and agility of the senior leadership team is PDG’s crucial differentiator as we roll out our aggressive growth plans across the region. We are rapidly delivering against our vision of building a pan-Asian multibillion-dollar digital infrastructure portfolio. Our continued ability to attract some of the industry’s best talent is testament to the strength of our accomplishments so far, and confidence in the direction that we are heading,” said Rangu Salgame, Chairman and CEO, PDG.
The new hires join PDG’s existing leadership team, which includes co-founders Rangu Salgame and Varoon Raghavan, as well as Managing Director for Singapore, Asher Ling. Mr. Ling joined PDG from Kingsland, where he built its data center business.
PDG was founded in 2018 in partnership with Warburg Pincus. In the last year, PDG has built a significant presence across Asia and is the only company that owns data centers in China, Singapore, and Indonesia – three of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies. In China, PDG currently operates three data centers through a joint venture and is developing four more data centers in key locations across the country. In Singapore, PDG acquired a data center from IO Data Centers. In Indonesia, PDG operates five data centers through a majority-owned joint venture with XL Axiata, the country’s second largest telecommunications company.
