The Board of Switzerland-based ABB has appointed Ulrich Spiesshofer, the head of its Discrete Automation and Motion division, as chief executive officer. He will succeed Joe Hogan in the role September 15. Hogan will continue with ABB for some months as senior advisor to the board.

Spiesshofer joined ABB’s executive committee in 2005 and was named responsible for the Discrete Automation and Motion division in 2009. He has led a doubling of the division’s revenues, organically and inorganically, and he led the integration of Baldor – ABB’s largest-ever acquisition.

ABB, a power and automation technologies company, operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people.