JLL’s Matt Landek to Lead New Data Center Operations Firm L5 Mission Critical

L5 Mission Critical, a new data center operations and management firm, has tapped Matt Landek as its first president and CEO. 

Landek previously spent 14 years at JLL, most recently serving as president of its data centers and critical environments division in Chicago. 

L5 Mission Critical, launched Wednesday by Detroit-based construction company Walbridge, was formed to meet growing demand for data center operations. From its headquarters in Chicago, L5 Mission Critical will offer operations, facilities management and workforce training to third-party data center clients across the U.S., as well as Walbridge construction clients.

Landek will work alongside John Rakolta III, president and chief administrative officer of Walbridge. 

“Matt’s expertise will allow us to scale our data center construction practice to a full build-to-operate model that our clients need in this complicated time,” said Rakolta. “With the addition of L5 Mission Critical, our clients will be able to tap into a wider depth of service that goes across the entire life cycle of a data center.”

Landek joined JLL in 2012 as an account executive, and was promoted to his most recent role overseeing employees across 340 data centers in late 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile. His time at the company coincided with the rapid expansion of the brokerage’s data center business. 

Prior to joining JLL, Landek worked in facilities management for the Cook County government in Illinois. He holds a degree in finance from the University of Illinois Chicago.

A representative of JLL’s Chicago office could not be immediately reached for comment. 

Emily Davis can be reached at edavis@commercialobserver.com.