Moderator: Piera Man
Speakers: Adalbert Neumann, Alireza Mehtash, Giampiero Frisio, Robert Doran, Thomas Zurflueh
Adalbert M. Neumann was appointed Head of Global Marketing and Sales for ABB Building Products in October 2015. Having joined ABB in 1984, Adalbert has held various management functions within the ABB Group. In 2004 he assumed responsibility for the Group's global wholesale business as Global Distribution Channel Manager. From 2001 to 2010 Adalbert also held the position of Managing Director of ABB Stotz-Kontakt/Striebel & John Vertriebsgesellschaft, based in Heidelberg.
In March 2010, Adalbert was appointed to the management of Busch-Jaeger Elektro GmbH – a member of the ABB Group and in January 2011, he assumed the role of CEO for Busch-Jaeger.
Adalbert is a graduate engineer in electrical engineering and electronics from the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences. He also holds a number of external roles including member of the KNX Executive Board. In early 2014, he also took over the chairmanship of KNX Germany.
Alireza Mehrtash is a member of the executive team for ABB’s solar business, heading global Sales & Marketing activities and based in Germany. Previously, he was the general manager for ABB’s Solar business in Germany. He started his career at SMA Solar Technology in Germany, where he held different positions in product management and sales as well as management positions.
Alireza is an electrical engineer with an MSc in energy and power electronics. He has over 10 years of experience in the power electronic industry, most of them devoted to renewable energy and solar.
He is also passionate about diversity, travelling, meeting different cultures and people.
Giampiero joined ABB in 1995 and he has been the Managing Director of ABB’s Protection & Connection business since 2010. The business is a global leader in digital solutions for energy management, helping customers use the power of the cloud and new technologies to improve productivity and operating costs. The extensive offering includes circuit breakers, switches and other essential Low Voltage electrical solutions. All are manufactured to the highest quality standards in the industry.
"I am proud to be part of one of the most innovative companies in the world, and this pride is greater when we can mark the direction with our customers and accompany them to reach the highest standards of technology in their processes.In everything we do, we are passionate and try to have fun building the trends of the future." - Giampiero Frisio
Robert Doran was born in Lampertheim, near Frankfurt in Germany and joined ABB in 1988, starting in production engineering for Building Products. Since then he has held various local and global business responsibilities for Building Products and Protection and Connection. In 2016, Robert joined the Installation Products business unit that ABB had acquired in 2012 (US based Thomas & Betts) as the Global Product Group Manager for Wire Management & Connectivity.
"I like Asia for its culture and speed. During my 29 years in ABB I have spent a lot of time here for business and with my family, e.g. running for 3 years the Protection and Connection business in China. I am married and have a daughter of 15 and a son of 13 with whom I spend as much time as possible when I am not working. I enjoy swimming, food and wine." - Robert Doran
Thomas Zurflüh was appointed Head of Global Marketing and Sales for ABB Distribution Solutions in March 2017. Having joined the ABB trainee program in 2001 in Switzerland and Chile, Thomas has held various management functions within the ABB Group.
From 2002 to 2006 he held marketing, sales and product management responsibilities for communication solutions of the ABB Power Systems Business in Switzerland and China. Between 2007 to 2017, Thomas was global manager of services for excitation systems, had the local division services manager role for power products and power systems in Switzerland and held the global marketing and sales position for medium voltage service.
Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Berne University in Burgdorf and an Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.