ABB, a leader in electrification products, industrial automation and power grids, today announced that Chun-Yuan Gu, managing director of ABB China, will become president of its the Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region.

He takes over from Frank Duggan, who has been appointed president of Europe, succeeding Bernhard Jucker, whose retirement was announced earlier.

As members of the ABB executive committee, both Chun-Yuan Gu and Frank Duggan will report to ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. Both appointments will be effective July 1, 2017.

“China represents one third of global growth and is a very important market for ABB. I am very pleased to welcome Chun-Yuan, a China and industrial automation expert, to our executive committee. He has a proven track record of delivering superior growth momentum and a profound knowledge of Asia and emerging markets,” said Spiesshofer.

“He will have an important role in implementing our Next Level strategy and further accelerating our growth momentum, for example, through our digital offering, ABB Ability. Chun-Yuan will be key to integrating our announced acquisition of B&R, an innovation leader in machine and factory automation, in the industrial segments of emerging markets.”

“At the same time, I would like to warmly thank Frank for his excellent leadership in the AMEA region and his contributions to the executive committee over the past years. With his extensive knowledge of ABB’s global customers, markets and portfolio and solid track record of enhancing growth momentum, Frank is the ideal next leader for Europe. He will continue to play a key role in the ongoing transformation of ABB towards a more customer and market-oriented company,” Spiesshofer added.

Chun-Yuan Gu and Frank Duggan have spent their careers at ABB. Gu started at ABB in Sweden in 1989 and held leadership positions in R&D, mainly in Robotics, before becoming head of the Robotics Global R&D Center in Shanghai in 2006. In January 2014, he assumed responsibility for ABB’s operations in China. He is fluent in English, Mandarin and Swedish, and holds a degree in engineering from Jiao Tong University in Shanghai and a Ph D in engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Gu will continue as managing director of ABB in China, in addition to his new role, and will be based in Beijing.

Duggan joined ABB in Sweden in 1984, and has held leadership positions in many of ABB’s businesses in Europe, Asia and the Gulf. In 2011, he joined the group executive committee as head of global markets and region manager for India, Middle East and Africa, before being appointed president of the AMEA region in January 2015. In addition to his responsibilities as president of the Europe region, Duggan will assume the role of managing director of ABB in Ireland. ABB’s current managing director of ABB in Ireland, Tom O’Reilly, will retire at the end of June 2017, after a distinguished 32-year career at ABB. - TradeArabia News Service