Thomas Donato new Rockwell Automation president for Middle East

Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest industrial automation firm, recently named Thomas Donato president of the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division.

Donato, who has engineering degrees from German and Irish institutes, has 18 years of automation industry experience. He has long held leadership positions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Rockwell Automation, serving previously as the regional sales director for Northern/Eastern Europe and most recently as the company’s vice president in Canada.

Rockwell Automation Senior Vice President John McDermott said Donato is well qualified to take the helm for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Thomas’ extensive experience makes him the ideal candidate for this key leadership role,” McDermott said. “His record of building high-performance teams and developing leaders will help achieve our business goals in the EMEA region.”

Donato said he will move forward in the post with a two-pronged approach for supporting customers and machine builders.

“One is helping end-users realize that The Connected Enterprise is essential today for any company that wants to implement future advanced manufacturing strategies such as Industry 4.0,” Donato said. “The other is by making integration seamless for our machine builders. These strategies will contribute to the success of both groups.”