FDT Group™, an independent, international, not-for-profit industry association supporting the evolution of FDT® technology, announced that Steve Biegacki has been named the Managing Director successor. Glenn Schulz, who has held the role for 13 years, had earlier this year announced his retirement with effect at the end of 2021. Mr. Biegacki will immediately begin the transition, joining the organization as Vice President of Marketing, commencing 1 November 2021, to undertake strategy, planning and collaborative work alongside existing leadership and working groups to ensure a seamless transition assuming the Managing Director role on 1 January 2022.
Driving a holistic manufacturing approach
Biegacki’s 30+ year career has been in leadership roles working in and with manufacturing companies in the areas of sales, marketing, and business management developing and implementing strategies to deliver market awareness and growth. He was involved in the design, manufacturing, and delivery of technologies and solutions. Most recently, Biegacki has served as Director, Management Advisory Services for BDO, collaborating with industry clients to help them improve their business by helping them understand their market and opportunities, creation of goals and action plans, and KPI’s to measure progress and provide feedback, to ensure planned outcomes. Prior roles include CEO at Kramer Electronics, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at Belden and Vice President of Global Commercial Marketing at Rockwell Automation. At Rockwell Automation he was also the Business Manager that led the creation, development and delivery of a single international networking standard known as CIP, the underlying protocol of DeviceNet®, ControlNet® and EtherNet/IP®.
“Steve is the ideal leader to achieve win-win outcomes for FDT Group through global partnerships and collaboration energizing harmonization in a time of revolutionary transformation for the automation industry,” said Lee Lane, chairman of the FDT board of directors.
“I am very excited to join the FDT Group leadership team at a pivotal time for both industry and organization,” Biegacki commented. “My passion for industrial automation and industrial communication is evident. I know automation-customers’ wants and needs, suppliers and applications for the motion, discrete, process and safety markets. For my entire career, I have created alignment through building relationships and collaborating; and I’m thrilled to return to the standards-based community, working with FDT Group’s members and partners to drive a holistic approach to visionary manufacturing excellence focused on advanced automation initiatives.”
Biegacki resides in the United States. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from Electronic Technology Institute in Cleveland, Ohio and participated in the Executive MBA program at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
