OPC Foundation elects board members; names Holger Kenn as chairman

The OPC Foundation announced that Dr. Holger Kenn (Microsoft), Claudius Link (SAP), Andreas Faath (VDMA), Aurelien Le Sant (Schneider-Electric) and Kazuhiro Kusunoki (Mitsubishi Electric) have been elected to its board of directors. The foundation named Kenn as the board’s newly elected chairman. Kenn replaced Veronica Schmid-Lutz as the chairperson.

“I am honoured by the trust and confidence placed in me by my fellow board members. With the future opportunities in the domain of OT that are offered by the cloud, but also emerging technologies such as autonomy, AI, and the industrial metaverse, there has never been a better time to work together within the OPC Foundation.”

Kenn has technical and business-related IoT experience which he gained working with Microsoft customers and partners for over a decade. His insights from an IT company perspective and leadership will play a key role in helping the board navigate the challenges and opportunities in the IT and OT business landscape.

Reflecting on the broader context an organization like the OPC Foundation plays in the global community, Kenn added, “At the same time, we all realize that disruption can occur rapidly, like global catastrophes such as the COVID-19 pandemic. But also, the far-reaching consequences of the climate crisis and the necessary decarbonization reminds us that it is also up to the engineers and technologists like us to ensure a resilient and safe future of our planet.”

Claudius Link, senior vice-president of Engineering for Manufacturing and Industrial IoT at SAP, will replace Veronica Schmid-Lutz (SAP) on the board. Aurelien Le Sant, CTO of Industrial Automation and SVP Innovation & Technology, will replace Dr. Fabrice Jadot as the Schneider-Electric representative. Dr. Kusunoki, CTO, Factory Automation Systems Group,
Mitsubishi Electric replaced Russ Agrusa (ICONICS/Mitsubishi Electric).

The OPC Foundation members elected Faath, managing director of the Machine Information Interoperability Department (MII) at VDMA as a new member on the board. He looks after member companies’ OPC UA needs by coordinating OPC UA-based information model definition efforts via OPC Foundation Joint Working Groups. Faath brings with him wide-ranging exposure to the changing needs of businesses in process and discrete markets. He is actively involved in the broader Information Model standardization and harmonization efforts globally.