Lee Kirby, Salute Co-Founder, and retired Army colonel interviewed Wayne Watson, US Navy Veteran and Vice President of Data Center Operations at Applied Digital Corporation.
Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
I grew up on a hay and cattle farm in Wiggins, MS, where hard work was never in short supply. I enjoyed it and am grateful for the experience, but I was always more interested in the ‘how’- like how the tractors worked or how to properly catalog a herd of cattle in a computer database on an Intel 486 computer (dating myself, aren’t I?). Long story short, I did well in school and had an interest in the sciences but lacked direction. High school career tests always pointed me toward “Electro/Mechanical Operator,” but I didn’t know what that entailed or how to turn it into a degree or career.
I took the ASVAB because it was offered at my high school and figured it would give me a glimpse into the opportunities I might qualify for in the military. I scored well enough to qualify for the Navy Nuclear Power Program. With newfound direction and a debt-free path into a career, I “Accelerated My Life,” as the slogan went, and signed up for the Navy. I left for boot camp five days after turning 18.
What are you doing today?
Today, I’m the Vice President of Data Center Operations at Applied Digital Corporation. We’re about to begin commissioning our first 100 MW data center at the Polaris Forge Campus, in Ellendale, ND, with 300 MW’s to follow behind. My team ensures operational readiness and the handover of new data centers from our development team. From there, my team of operating technicians takes ownership of the site and oversees power distribution, emergency power backup, heat removal, and fire suppression systems. I also lead a team of mechanical and electrical engineers who support the data centers through engineering audits and reviews.
Can you tell us a bit about your military background?
Navy Nuclear Power School takes up the first two years of your time as a Navy Nuke. The first six months are spent learning your job function—either Electronics Technician, Mechanic, or Electrician. The second six months are Nuclear Power School, where you learn how nuclear fission works. I’ll save you some time: hot rock makes steam, steam turns turbines, turbines make electricity and move the propellers.
The final six months are spent in Nuclear Power Prototype training, where you perform your new job under close supervision—someone watches you closely and corrects you if you reach for the wrong button, switch, handle, or valve, so you learn quickly.
That covers about 18 months, with some additional buffer time for transfers between schools.
Then the real fun begins. Everyone heads to their assigned ships or submarines for the next four years, qualifying for increasingly difficult roles and potentially taking on leadership positions within their work centers. Each work center oversees maintenance for a different part of the reactor plant. You spend time maintaining and operating equipment, studying, mentoring, and asking senior personnel questions (sometimes in exchange for a Mountain Dew and a Snickers bar), and then of course eating, sleeping, and relaxing when you can.
During my time on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), I completed my first 92 days at sea and even landed on the carrier in an airplane—which was amazing. We visited a few foreign ports and eventually docked in Norfolk, VA. I then spent nearly three years and eight months in the Newport News Shipyard, upgrading and refurbishing the ship, refueling the reactor, and recommissioning all systems. Once everything was reassembled, I did two weeks of sea trials and flew off in a helicopter.
Can you share an interesting experience from your military career? What lesson did you take from it?
During Sea Trials, we experienced a generator failure due to a faulty voltage sensing line, which prevented startup and testing. The team tried to fix the issue and locate spare parts, but none were available. We were dangerously close to having to delay delivery of the entire aircraft carrier.
Once I heard about the issue, I asked if they had tried using the installed spare voltage sensors. No one knew what I meant. Luckily, I had read the technical manual for the generator cover-to-cover and knew this was an option. I brought a few people to the turbine, opened a panel, humbly flipped a switch—and we were good to go. The generator started up, and we saved the day.
I learned that knowledge truly is power. Anyone can hold the answer to a complex problem, so it’s important to value everyone’s input. There’s no point in being the smartest person in the room if you can’t recognize that others have valuable contributions too.
Did your military experience help prepare you for business and leadership? How?
It absolutely helped me develop as a leader. My work center was incredibly diverse, and we faced both professional and personal challenges together. That environment was a pressure cooker, and I gained a lot of leadership experience quickly.
As a Load Dispatcher—responsible for all electrical systems on the carrier—I had multiple operators reporting to me. I had to know the procedures inside and out to effectively direct and correct them. That was an invaluable leadership experience.
In terms of business, my military experience didn’t contribute directly. However, the Post-9/11 GI Bill covered both my Nuclear Engineering Technology bachelor’s degree and my MBA, which has supported my civilian career.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I’ve had many mentors across different stages of life—some who helped out of love, others because the Navy required it, some because helping me helped the company, and others who saw my curiosity and motivation and genuinely cared.
To anyone reading this: help people who want to improve. Share your knowledge. Be a great leader. Be a friend. Volunteer. Bring food to someone recovering from surgery or grieving a loss. It takes a village to make the village succeed—just as it takes people to make a company successful. Even small acts of kindness can mean the world to someone else.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most good to the most people, what would it be?
Combining my two passions—nuclear power and data centers—I’d advocate for a national shift toward nuclear power. It’s crucial that we educate the public on how safe nuclear energy is when properly designed and operated. Many past failures stemmed from poor design and operation, not from the technology itself.
Nuclear power can generate far more electricity than coal with significantly less waste and environmental impact. Without it, theres a good chance we won’t meet the energy demands of AI-driven data centers over the next 5–10 years. Nuclear must be part of the solution.
How can our readers follow you online?
Via my Linkedin.