Clarissa Turner represents the new style of leadership in Australia’s digital infrastructure industry. She joined Alliance SI not long after relocating from the UK and after 8 years with the company, became CEO in April of this year. Turner describes her approach to the role as “a bit different” – shaped by her previous experience in a range of HR positions, which continue to influence her leadership style in ways that set her apart from other leaders in the industry.
Turner describes her appointment to CEO very much in terms of the Alliance SI team rather than in terms of her own personal achievement: “What I’m really passionate about is making sure we’ve got a platform for our team to continue thriving and growing. I’d love to think the team sees me as approachable but also recognise that I’m making strategic decisions that will help shape and focus the business moving forward”.
While Turner’s background is not directly technology-based, she has demonstrated that this is not a prerequisite for effective leadership in the sector. Turner views her leadership as building on being part of a team with shared values. She draws inspiration from the people she works with and believes leadership should be viewed less as a ‘position’ and more as a skill that can exist at any level within the organisation: “I think there are a lot of leaders around us who aren’t actually acknowledged. I’m very fortunate to have some really grounded and innovative project managers, technicians and apprentices – they’re the ones who are really going to help shape the future of the industry”.
The flexibility of Turner’s leadership approach is well suited to the rapid growth of the industry and of Alliance SI; and is key to managing the challenges that come with it. A shared leadership culture recognises the mutual dependence of all members of a team in successfully delivering projects and meeting customer requirements.
“Our culture is very values driven. Our key values are integrity – doing things right, even when no one is watching; and passion – we care deeply about the work and impact that it has. We aim for excellence and hold ourselves to very high standards. We also look to align with customers that share similar values, ensuring we’re truly positioned to support them as that strategic partner”.
Turner also highlights these values extend beyond internal operations to the partnerships Alliance SI builds with vendors, customers and the broader industry. “Strategic partnerships are fundamental to how we deliver,” she adds. “Whether it’s working closely with our experienced vendor network or collaborating with customers, we’re not just delivering a service – we’re building something together. When our partners share our values of quality, transparency and long-term thinking, that’s when we create the most impact.”
This has in part been enabled by the processes and standards established to ensure consistency, with a focus on understanding what drives operational success in the broadest sense.
“Working in that close partnership, I think it’s not just about understanding the technical brief, but also the business risks, governance requirements, commercial and financial pressures, and the future roadmap. That really helps us make sure we’re working together to deliver the right solution, not just for today, but for the future”.
This approach depends heavily on a shared commitment from all parties involved. Turner explains: “We don’t operate in isolation. Delivering at scale, across diverse project environments, means we rely on trusted partners who understand our standards and are aligned with our way of working. It’s these strategic partnerships – with vendors, subcontractors and especially with our customers – that allow us to remain agile and responsive without compromising on quality.”
To manage the growth experienced by both the industry and the company, Turner focuses on Alliance SI’s agility — based on their ability to scale systems, culture, and standards in a sustainable way. She credits this to the “extraordinary foundation that was built by Frank and, obviously, that Rod has taken forward”.
Turner’s view of the future emphasises the ways in which the data centre sector will need to navigate a whole range of challenges. She sees skills management as core to meeting changing customer, market and legislative requirements:
“We’re obviously undergoing a lot of change at the moment. I think it’s really geared around regulation – there’s going to be more regulation, especially around sustainability, and then the skill sets that will be needed. I think that’s going to be a real key shift”.
Strategic partnerships also play a vital role in managing these future shifts. Turner explains that long-term collaboration with customers provides a better understanding of evolving technical, commercial and compliance pressures. “We’re often brought in not just as installers, but as strategic advisors. That’s when the relationship deepens – when our partners see us not just as a vendor but as part of their roadmap. The earlier we’re involved, the better we can tailor the solution.”
She points out that building these future-ready capabilities will be increasingly difficult given the current skills shortage: “The talent pool is getting smaller and smaller – we need someone to champion what those new skill sets will look like.”
Turner believes this shortage stems from a combination of factors, especially the lack of awareness around the data centre industry and the limited understanding that it offers meaningful long-term career opportunities. This reflects Turner’s own early experience: “I actually had no awareness of them [data centres] until I started at Alliance SI. It’s almost like the hidden industry. It was kept out of the media, under blankets. I remember my first site visit, and I was like, wow, where are we, and what is this?”
This lack of awareness continues to be evident among team members joining Alliance SI. So how should the industry attract new talent? Turner highlights a number of positive features of a career in digital infrastructure. She recalles her own discovery of the sector as “exciting … we’re almost unseen, but we’re so critical.”
She describes the cutting-edge nature of the work: “Technology is advancing … and being able to actually install and be even part of the design of some really cool infrastructure. It’s very different from the typical work that you do as an electrician. There’s a secure career path. It’s very inclusive, and there’s so much growth – the investment in training, learning and development to support ongoing career growth internally is significant.”
The success of this approach can be judged by the high number of internal promotions at Alliance SI: “That was happening before and has continued since I joined. The fact that we can see people grow and develop – from apprentice to program manager, into our current General Manager of Operations – shows how someone can progress right through the business”.
Turner is closely involved in the Careers in the Cloud initiative which was launched at the end of 2023 to help raise the profile of the sector as a great place to work, through the collaboration and partnership of the organisations who make the cloud function. The initiative now includes 19 partners, including leading data centre operators and cloud providers. Turner believes its strength lies in the collective, industry-wide approach rather than isolated efforts by individual companies: “Doing things individually is fine, but to really build that community and that community engagement – to really help drive the rhetoric out there around what the industry is, and the careers you can have – we need a collective approach”.
Turner sees the future of Careers in the Cloud as focused on scaling the momentum built over the past 18 months: “We have such a fantastic opportunity ahead of us – we’ve just got to make sure that we continue to develop the resources, the information and support the events so there is more activity around it. Where is it heading? What do we want to achieve? It’s really about deepening those partnerships with recruitment, education and government stakeholders to truly attract diverse talent”.