Schneider Electric lines up a new UK MD

Schneider Electric has appointed a new managing director for its UK business. He is Gaël Dutheil de la Rochère who has been with the company for more than 12 years and was, most recently, president and chief operating officer of its high-voltage operation, based in Paris.

In his new role, de la Rochère will be responsible for the day-to-day running and the future direction of Schneider and its brands - including Telemecanique, Modicon, Square D and Merlin Gerin.

"I believe that this is a time of enormous opportunity for Schneider Electric in the UK," says de la Rochère. He expects investment to return to the UK national infrastructure and new opportunities to arise from the Internet.

One of de la Rochère`s first actions as UK MD has been to form a specialised sales and marketing team to boost the company`s sales related to "the digital economy".

If Schneider`s planned takeover of Legrand gets the go-ahead, he will be closely involved in combining the UK operations of the two companies, as well as integrating two other recent acquisitions, Lexel and Wiremold.

"For me, the concept of constructing an organisation which can effectively manage multiple brands, multiple markets and multiple routes to market, while maintaining its strong and clear customer focus, is very exciting," he says.