Innovation Award

The Innovation Champion Award recognizes people who are demonstrably committed to leveraging technology to help save the planet and advance humanity. Our vision is to collaborate and innovate to drive progress and transform the industry.

The 2024 finalists and winner were selected by the iMasons Innovation Committee.

Winner

Steven Boyce

Novva Data Centers

Steven Boyce is Vice President of Mission Critical at Novva Data Centers where he oversees infrastructure and systems at the company’s operational, under construction, and planned data centers in the western United States. Notable achievements include the design and installation of an innovative water-free cooling system and advanced power management technologies that exceed industry standards and prioritize environmental responsibility.

Novva’s proprietary water-free, closed-loop cooling system eliminates approximately 300 million gallons of water annually at the company’s Utah facility, which was the first data center outfitted with the technology. Steven has since retrofitted the company’s recently acquired Colorado data center with the technology and is implementing the system at data centers under construction in Arizona, California, and Nevada.

In addition, Steven oversees implementation of Novva’s advanced power management solutions, which are designed to maximize resiliency and efficiency and ensure continuous operation even during maintenance activities. He championed the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in backup generators and led adoption of sodium-ion UPS batteries, which eliminate risk of thermal runaway and avoid the use of rare earth materials.


Finalists

Agostinho Villela

Scala Data Centers

Lee McClish

NTT Global Data Centers

Michael Welch

Aligned Data Centers

Yuriy Vasylkivskyy

Datalec Precision Installations