SCOTTSDALE, AZ, Feb. 20, 2006 -- Thomas J. Burke, president and executive director of the OPC Foundation, has announced the appointment of Kevin Roach and Grant Wilson to the organization's board of directors.
"The significant contributions of Rockwell Automation and Emerson Process Control to the OPC Foundation from the beginning continue to be clearly demonstrated by the commitment their companies have made in nominating Kevin Roach (Rockwell) and Grant Wilson (Emerson) for the OPC Foundation board positions. I'm pleased to know both Kevin and Grant personally. Their significant business and technical expertise will provide the OPC Foundation the necessary leadership to carry forward the OPC Unified Architecture as the basis for secure reliable interoperability for automation and beyond," Burke said.
Kevin Roach is the vice president of Rockwell Software where he's responsible globally for all automation and information software. Roach is also the chairman of MESA International, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the exchange of best practices, strategies and innovations in managing manufacturing operations, and in achieving excellence in plant-floor operations.
"Having spent more than 25 years in the automation business, I have followed the OPC Foundation and have been a long-term supporter of its efforts," Roach said. "I look forward to working with the Foundation's senior leadership and being a part of Rockwell Automation's ongoing commitment to open standards as we continue to build upon the FactoryTalk suite of software."
Roach attained his undergraduate degree at Stone Hill College and received his executive Master of Business Administration degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His entrepreneurial background includes a start-up system integration business with a focus on robotics and machine vision, and a business focused on intelligent signal conditioning and I/O products. Roach has secured several patents in the area of advanced communications protocols.
Grant Wilson is vice president of technology for Emerson Process Management where he leads the DeltaV System Development team. His responsibilities include leading batch, user interface, engineering tools and integration product development for the DeltaV platform, and leading solutions marketing and development.
"Emerson was one of the member companies that formed the OPC Foundation and we remain committed to its success," Wilson said. "OPC communication interfaces are a cornerstone of all of our automation systems and are a vital part of our 'open architecture' strategy. We believe that having a well supported, public communication standard both speeds innovation in the industry and provides better value to our customers."
Grant has a bachelor's degree in engineering and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Prior to joining Emerson nine years ago, he spent 16 years working with two other major process control system companies.
The OPC Foundation (www.opcfoundation.org) is a non-profit international standards organization dedicated to providing standards for interoperability in industrial automation. The OPC specifications are open and interoperable interface standards that leverage the functionality and technology of the Microsoft operating systems and architecture (that the standards were originally based and conceived on), and also leverage the technology of XML and Web services (as the key to interoperability between factory floor and the enterprise). The specifications have been created through a collaboration of leading worldwide automation hardware and software suppliers cooperating together to solve critical end-user interoperability problems. For more information, refer to the OPC Foundation web site at www.opcfoundation.org. The OPC Foundation logo is a registered trademark of the OPC Foundation. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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