Allan Bennett, CCO for Metra North America speaks on the role of extruded aluminum in the data center boom

U.S. aluminum midstream companies are redirecting focus to the data center and AI infrastructure sectors as demand from electric vehicle (EV) and solar markets slows. Allan Bennett, Chief Commercial Officer for Metra North America, stated that data center demand is driven by fundamental shifts in internet and AI usage, unlike the EV trend driven by legislation. Metra North America projects that demand from data center customers will increase by "several percent" in 2026, exceeding the company's overall growth expectations. Read the full analysis at S&P Global.

Christian Griffith

Christian Griffith lives, eats, sleeps, and drinks artificial intelligence [AI], digital marketing, brand advertising, and communications strategy on a daily basis.

His career has been deeply entrenched in branding, web development, internet marketing, online advertising, and creative strategy since 1997, but believes AI and big data to be the biggest advancements to hit business in a lifetime.

After 25 years in executive leadership, Christian Griffith left his last gig as SVP of Digital Strategy at Atlanta ad agency, Freebairn and Company, to start his own shop in 2015 called Live for a Living. A wildly successful 10-year run with Live for a Living opened the doors to an additional venture focused squarely on the advantages that AI brings to business. Now, with the 2025 launch of Kai Daddy Digital, he's helping clients get a serious edge by using cutting-edge AI and big data digital strategies on the marketing platforms that have proven to work for over a decade.

Christian loves being daddy to daughter, Kai, first and foremost, leaning into challenging fitness-type events and extreme sports for fun after that. In 2018, Christian ran 3,142 miles across the USA, New York to San Francisco, in an effort to raise $1 million for the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse.

In 2025, Christian launched 5-Minute Fitness, a program as he calls it, “to eliminate all barriers to fitness training success,” targeting at-risk individuals such as the sedentary or over-40 crowd. As of this writing, he has over 600 members.

https://liveforaliving.com
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Metra North America launches in U.S. and Canada, raises the bar for aluminum extrusion quality, reliability and worth