Vertiv has appointed Frieda He as Chief Procurement Officer, putting her in charge of the company's global purchasing and supplier management operations.
She joins the digital infrastructure supplier after serving as chief procurement officer at Polestar, where she was also a member of the group management team. There, she oversaw more than USD $3 billion in annual global spend across direct and indirect materials, supplier quality, research and development industrial programmes, cost management, and global real estate.
At Vertiv, she will focus on strengthening supply chain resilience, supporting growth, improving cost and value, and overseeing supplier quality. Vertiv operates in more than 130 countries and supplies power and thermal management products and services for data centres, communications networks, and commercial and industrial applications.
Before Polestar, He held senior procurement roles at Volvo Cars, including vice president and head of global propulsion and sustainability procurement. She led an organisation with more than USD $9 billion in annual spend and was involved in the company's shift towards electrification.
Earlier in her career, she held procurement and supply chain roles in China and across the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on global sourcing, cost engineering, and supplier development.
Supply chain focus
The appointment comes as manufacturers serving the data centre market face greater scrutiny over supply chains, component sourcing, and production costs. Rising demand for infrastructure linked to artificial intelligence and higher-density computing has increased pressure on suppliers of power and cooling systems.
Procurement has become more prominent for companies in those markets, particularly where expansion depends on securing components, managing supplier performance, and limiting disruption. For Vertiv, which sells equipment used in critical facilities, procurement decisions also affect product availability and margins.
Chief Executive Officer Gio Albertazzi said the hire reflects Vertiv's next phase of growth. "Frieda He is a proven global leader with deep experience building and scaling resilient, sustainable supply chains," he said. "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."
He holds bachelor's degrees in general studies and business and commerce from Northeast Normal University in China, as well as an executive MBA from the University of Oxford in England.
Industry backdrop
Vertiv supplies hardware, software, and related services for facilities where uninterrupted operation is critical. Its products are used in environments ranging from large data centres to communications and industrial sites, where operators are under pressure to increase computing capacity while controlling energy use and capital spending.
The choice of a procurement executive with experience in automotive and electrification reflects how supply chain management has moved up the corporate agenda. Those sectors have faced raw material volatility, regulatory requirements, supplier bottlenecks, and complex global sourcing arrangements, all of which also affect manufacturers serving digital infrastructure markets.
In previous roles, He worked through periods of industry disruption and was involved in cost controls, governance, and structural transactions. That background suggests Vertiv is placing procurement discipline alongside product and market expansion as it responds to customer demand.
Commenting on her move, He said: "I'm excited to join Vertiv at such a transformative moment for the digital infrastructure industry. 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."