Dr. Gunther Kegel, succeeds John Berra of Emerson Process Management, who is retiring after serving 16 years in his foundation leadership post.

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Dr. Gunther Kegel, president, Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH, has been elected chairman of The Fieldbus Foundation board of directors. Dr. Kegel succeeds John Berra of Emerson Process Management, who is retiring after serving 16 years in his foundation leadership post.

Other executives named to the foundation’s board include: Daniel Huber, senior group vice president, business unit manager - open control systems, process automation division, ABB; Takuji Hosoya, managing executive officer - advanced automation company, Azbil (Yamatake); Peter Zornio, chief strategic officer, Emerson Process Management; and Ralph Carter, president, Rockwell software business, Rockwell Automation.

The remaining board members include: Farshad Amir, DuPont; Timm Madden, ExxonMobil; Masatsugu Tomotaka, Fuji Electric Systems, Co. Ltd.; David Eisner, Honeywell, Inc.; John Eva, Invensys/Foxboro; Fred Cohn, Schneider Electric; Hans Georg Kumpfmueller, Siemens AG; and Kimikazu Takahashi, Yokogawa.

“On behalf of the Fieldbus Foundation, I would like to welcome the latest additions to our board,” said Fieldbus Foundation President and CEO Rich Timoney. “These professionals will bring valuable experience to our organization and help us to serve the needs of the global automation industry

“During this period of rapid growth for FOUNDATION fieldbus, we are fortunate to have the support of key executives with the world’s leading control system and instrumentation suppliers, as well as major end users companies,” he said.

Timoney also thanked Berra for his many years of service to the Fieldbus Foundation. He said, “John Berra has been a dedicated supporter of the foundation since it was established in 1994. As chairman of the board, he helped to guide our organization in reaching many key milestones over the years, and has been tireless in his efforts to promote FOUNDATION technology within his own company and throughout the marketplace. The entire fieldbus community owes John a significant debt of gratitude.”

Dr. Kegel studied Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Germany. After completing his doctoral thesis on the topic of "Integration of Sensor Signals Into Robotic Controls," he became a freelance engineering collaborator for several small-sized engineering companies. In 1990, Dr. Kegel was employed by Pepperl+Fuchs Mannheim, a manufacturer of electronics for factory and process automation, as head of its Pre-design Department. He was subsequently named head of Pepperl+Fuchs’ Development Department/Factory Automation and Division Factory Automation, and later served as its deputy managing director. In 2004, Dr. Kegel was chosen as chief executive officer of Pepperl+Fuchs Mannheim. He currently serves as the company’s president and chief executive officer (CEO).

Prior to his current position with ABB, Huber served as the company’s global technology manager for process industry products and oversaw product roadmaps and forward evolution for ABB’s control systems portfolio. Huber joined ABB in 1987 and has held numerous positions in Research and Development, product management, marketing, sales, service, and business development, as well as Corporate Research. He has also held similar positions at Adtranz and General Electric.

Hosoya is a 33-year veteran of smart transmitter marketing and development, and the process automation solution business. He is currently executive director of Advanced Automation Company, Yamatake Corporation, in charge of field instruments/automation solution system marketing.

As chief strategic officer for Emerson Process Management, Zornio has responsibility for group-level coordination of technology programs such as PlantWeb and Smart Wireless, as well as the group-level marketing team. He also has direct responsibility for the product definition and development organizations for DeltaV, Ovation, and AMS Suite. Zornio has been at Emerson for four years. Prior to that, he spent 21 years at Honeywell, most recently as director of product marketing.

Ralph Carter joined Rockwell Automation in November 2007 through its acquisition of Pavilion Technologies, where he served as president and CEO, and sat on the company’s board of directors. He brings more than 25 years of automation industry experience to his current role with Rockwell, having worked for corporations such as Datastream, Honeywell and Measurex.