Michael Rothwell, Phoenix Contact, Joins Board of Directors
SCOTTSDALE, AZ – PI North America, the non-profit trade organization for PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies in North America, is proud to announce the appointment of Michael Rothwell, Director of Controls and Industry Solutions (CIS) for Phoenix Contact, to its Board of Directors. The Board voted unanimously to approve Mr. Rothwell’s nomination. Mr. Rothwell plans to attend his first Board meeting on September 25, 2012, preceding the PI North America annual General Assembly Meeting, which will be hosted in Scottsdale, AZ, September 25 through September 27, 2012.
As Director of the CIS Americas Business Unit group at Phoenix Contact, Mr. Rothwell is responsible for CIS development and manufacturing activities at Phoenix Contact locations in Harrisburg, PA, and Ann Arbor, MI. After joining the company in 2005 as Automation Regional Business Unit Manager, Mr. Rothwell was promoted to Director before moving into his current position.
Mr. Rothwell comments, “Phoenix Contact has standardized on PROFINET as the networking technology integrated into our industry solution and system portfolios. We see substantial growth potential in the technology, and want to be an integral part of its success in North America.” Phoenix Contact also markets its TPS-1 “Tiger” chip for manufacturers planning to integrate PROFINET into their own devices.
“Phoenix Contact first became a member of PI North America in 2002,” says Michael Bryant, Executive Director of PI North America. “By joining the Board, the company can now play a pivotal role in determining the strategic direction of PROFIBUS and PROFINET in North America. Mike’s leadership will help us expand the efforts of our Board to bring the technologies to an even wider market.” Mr. Rothwell will join fellow Board members Raj Batra of Siemens Industry, Bernie Anger of GE Intelligent Platforms, Jason Knuteson of Endress+Hauser, and Mr. Bryant.
About PI North America
PI North America is a non-profit, member-supported automation organization for fieldbus and Industrial Ethernet, specifically PROFIBUS and PROFINET. It is dedicated to supporting the discrete and process industries in achieving beneficial results using these networks. PI North America also assists device manufacturers in the development and marketing of PROFIBUS and PROFINET products. It is one of 27 regional associations that make up the global PI community. Established in 1989, PI has more than 1,400 members, who have developed and now supply more than 2,500 devices. To date, more than 40,000,000 PROFIBUS devices have been installed and the total number of PROFINET devices installed now exceeds 4,000,000. Members of PI North America include vendors of hardware, software and systems as well as end users and operators, scientific institutes, universities, distributors, and system integrators.