Christof Hammerli

When Christof Hammerli joined Landmark Dividend in 2017, it was his broad experience in finance, risk management and corporate development - with a particular focus on mission-critical real estate - that convinced the company’s CEO Tim Brazy to expand further into the data center market. Hammerli’s Digital Infrastructure division - a nimble team of eight multi-disciplined staff - has excelled in raising equity and investing in the digital infrastructure space, acquiring data centers and building a portfolio of assets now worth close to a billion dollars.

“My role at the company as a member of the executive group is to lead the digital infrastructure division,” explains Hammerli. “In terms of investment dollars on an annual basis it is the largest division of the company. Some of that is just due to the nature of the assets. Our acquisitions are larger on average than the assets that are acquired in our other core industries including, for example, billboards, solar projects and wind turbines.”

Hammerli describes his leadership style with a sporting analogy that fits his multi-faceted role. “I’m a player-coach. I actively raise equity and source transactions, but also manage the team. I spend half my time working on sourcing acquisitions, networking and building the company, and the remainder more focused on providing leadership for the team.”

Hammerli credits a strong team with the Digital Infrastructure division’s success. “ I'm the opposite of a micro-manager. I expect people to take initiative, have ideas and run their own pieces of the process - that's really how we're set up here at Landmark. I see my role as providing leadership, strategy and guidance; making sure the team has the right tools to focus on their core competencies to do a great job. Ultimately, we're a team - we need to have the best person in each position and that needs to continue to be true for the team to be successful.”

Growing up in Switzerland, Hammerli has lived in the States for almost 20 years during a career that has taken on M&A, acquisitions, finance, risk management and corporate development roles working for the likes of MetLife and Equinix.

“I’m passionate about business development and investment,” he says. “I grow organizations and I invest money on behalf of other investors. I’m happy when my team has negotiated better because we have stronger relationships, or because we offered a more creative solution and know the data center space better than our competitors. Winning is something that drives me - meeting and exceeding goals. I like setting big goals. People have called me a dreamer in the past, but to me, if you don't have a plan, then there's no way you're going to reach your goals, and I'm not afraid to fail. I think it's perfectly okay to set an incredibly large goal and miss it by a little bit. That's better than simply setting a small goal and hitting it.”

Read the full story HERE