Dr. Rainer Kaesmaier is a Managing Director for the Global Product Group Semiconductors of Hitachi Energy, leading the semiconductor business with its global manufacturing and R&D footprint for the power semiconductor product portfolio which compromises GTOs, IGBTs, IGCTs, Thyristors, Diodes for market segments such as energy transmission & distribution, transportation & rail, renewable, industrial, and emobility. Rainer is a semiconductor industry veteran having held various management and executive positions in the sector for more than 25 years, covering areas of global responsibility in business strategy and development, business transformation, technology and engineering, operations and production, R&D, as well as sales and marketing. After stations at Siemens, Infineon, Qimonda, and the European semiconductor manufacturer LFoundry, he resumed in 2018 the responsibility for ABB’s semiconductor business which is now Hitachi Energy. He is also a member of the board for Hitachi Energy Switzerland. Rainer was a member in various industries strategy committees in Europe and the US. Rainer holds a masters degree in physics from the Technical University Munich and a PhD in physics from the University Kassel in Germany. He is based in Lenzburg near Zürich, Switzerland.