East Coast Data Center Operations & Cooling Conference

Bisnow's East Coast Data Center Operations & Cooling Conference is a half-day event on December 8, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency Dulles in Herndon, Virginia. It is part of Bisnow's DICE (Data Centers Investment Conference & Expo) series. The program, subtitled "Commissioning, Cooling Rules and Operating Under Scrutiny," is built for the operators, engineers and critical environments leaders who run East Coast facilities.

The conference follows a September executive order from Virginia's governor. The order bans state nondisclosure agreements on data center projects, fast-tracks state noise rules and orders a review of the cumulative impact of diesel backup generators. It also designates the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area, everything east of I-95, a cooling-water scarcity area, and state budget language requires new facilities there to minimize water use. Locally, Loudoun County moved to pause new data center applications for up to 12 months. Prince William County now requires special use permits for nearly all new data center projects, ending most by-right development.

Programming Focus

• Ready on Paper: Closing the Gap Between Commissioned and Operational on East Coast Campuses. The construction-to-operations handoff on phased AI campuses, validating thermal and electrical performance under real AI load swings, and commissioning new halls next to live ones.
• Water, Noise or Power: Cooling Under Virginia's New Rulebook. Heat rejection choices by submarket, where noise limits will bite first, and what reclaimed water and waste-heat reuse can carry.
• Densify in Place: Upgrading Live Facilities for AI Density Without Taking Them Down. Sequencing power, cooling, controls and structural upgrades in halls that cannot go dark, where existing infrastructure caps density, and underwriting retrofit capital against remaining lease term.
• Your Operating Record Is Now Your Entitlement Strategy. How generator run hours, noise complaints, water draw and outage history become evidence in new applications, and what operators should measure now.

Featured Speakers

• Vishnu Anasoori, Electrical Field Engineer, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Sushant Waidande, DC Facilities Operations Lead, Meta
• Pavan Kundurthi, Engineering Manager, Data Center Engineering, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Drew Donahue, Vice President of Strategic Accounts, Taco
• Jeff Wood, Vice President, Uptime Institute
• Ashley Dirou, Global Senior Developer, Grundfos
• Taylor Oswald, Business Development Executive, Nortek Data Center Cooling

Moderators:

• Karin Selchert, Executive Vice President, AC³E Energy Services
• Mark Ardire, Director, LG Electronics

Who Should Attend

• Data center operators and hyperscale and colocation facilities leaders
• Critical environments and engineering executives
• Enterprise data center owners
• Developers and infrastructure investors
• Utility and energy leaders
• Mechanical, cooling and operations partners

Logistics

The program runs from 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM EST on December 8, 2026, starting with registration and breakfast. Sessions take place in the Luray Foyer and DEF on the first floor of the Hyatt Regency Dulles, 2300 Dulles Corner Boulevard, Herndon, VA 20171. Parking is complimentary. Tickets are tiered and prices rise as each tier sells out. The current Super Early Bird rate is $299. A $199 pass is available to director-level and above staff at architecture and engineering firms, general contractors, EPCs, MEP contractors and utility contractors. Director-level and above staff at qualifying hyperscalers, data center developers, owner/operators and investors attend free.

Related on Baxtel

• Bisnow
• Northern Virginia