ABB announced that Peter Voser will be unanimously elected as the next chairman to succeed Hubertus von Grünberg.
The announcement came following the decision from Hubertus von Grünberg and Michael Treschow not to contest for re-election to the Board at the next AGM.
Shareholders will vote on the proposed changes on April 30, 2015.
Before joining ABB in 2002 as CFO, Voser was CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. Prior to this he served as CFO of Royal Dutch Shell. Voser also brings a wealth of experience as a Board member of publicly listed companies such as Roche, UBS and Aegon.
“I am delighted that Peter Voser has accepted to stand for election as Chairman of ABB”, Hubertus von Grünberg said. “Peter Voser brings intimate knowledge of ABB and its key markets as well as an excellent track record as a leader in large, global organizations”.
The Board intends to elect Jacob Wallenberg as vice-chairman of the Board after the April 30, 2015 AGM.
Von Grünberg has been chairman of the ABB Board since May 2007. During his tenure ABB’s revenues have risen from about $23 billion in 2006 to $42 billion in 2013, whilst net income has doubled, an official statement from the company said.
Under Von Grünberg’s leadership, ABB also launched many breakthrough innovations including a breaker for high-voltage direct current (HVDC), a human-machine collaborative robot YuMi, and Emax2, the low- voltage circuit breaker that also functions as an energy manager.
Read: ABB, Hitachi JV to transform Japan’s energy sector with HVDC
In addition to Hubertus von Grünberg, the current members of the ABB Board are Roger Agnelli, Matti Alahuhta, Louis R. Hughes, Michel de Rosen, Michael Treschow, Jacob Wallenberg and Ying Yeh.
“I am honored to be nominated as chairman of the Board and look forward to working with ABB’s CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer, his executive team and the Board of Directors to drive accelerated sustainable value creation through the implementation of the recently announced Next Level strategy,” said Voser.
Rajani Baburajan