FORTUNE: Huge AI data centers are turning local elections into fights over the future of energy

Oct 22

Major national Fortune story by Sharon Goldman examining how AI data centers have emerged as political flashpoints in 2025 elections. Joanna is featured as a regional leader advocating for aggressive state action to capture AI infrastructure investment amid debates over electricity costs and resource demands.

“I can imagine a world where it would be easy for [Shapiro] to just stay neutral. But our state hasn't been a high-growth state — he inherited that — so we've got to turn the economy back on.” —Joanna Doven

For the past two decades, data centers were considered some of the most boring infrastructure in tech—big, boxy buildings that quietly stored and processed information for websites, email, and cloud computing. They rarely drew public attention, much less became a campaign issue.

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FORTUNE: Huge AI data centers are turning local elections into fights over the future of energy

“I can imagine a world where it would be easy for [Shapiro] to just stay neutral. But our state hasn't been a high-growth state — he inherited that — so we've got to turn the economy back on.” —Joanna Doven

THE TIMES (London): America’s ‘Steel City’ taking on Silicon Valley as AI powerhouse

Joanna Doven

Joanna Doven is a strategic development expert, speaker, and founder of Premo Consultants, specializing in AI-based place and positioning strategies that poise cities, developers, and innovators to thrive in the New AI Economy.