Schneider Electric has announced the appointment of Emily Heitman as vice president of the energy business in the U.S. and Canada.

As vice president of Schneider Electric’s Energy business, Heitman has profit and loss responsibility for medium voltage switchgear and energy solutions, while also developing and executing commercial strategies that drive growth and market penetration in the U.S. and Canada.

Heitman joins Schneider Electric from the ABB Power Products Division where she was the global vice president, marketing & sales, Distribution Transformers. In this role, she was responsible for managing a global marketing team across 14 factories. Heitman also held product leadership and operations management roles at Cooper Industries.

Heitman has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and an MBA from Marquette University in Milwaukee. Heitman is based in Nashville, Tennessee.

“The growing strain on energy resources, increasing demand for smart energy use and a rapidly aging energy infrastructure are converging to fundamentally change the way in which electricity is generated, distributed and consumed,” said Juan Macias, senior vice president of the U.S. Energy Business Unit and Country President of Canada. “With more than 20 years of experience, Emily will help our customers navigate this new energy landscape and realize the value of modern, safe, data-driven and holistic energy management for greater levels of understanding and control.”

According to the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption is expected to increase by 80% in the next 25 years — twice as fast as all other energy consumption. With many assets aged 50 years or more, electrical infrastructure today is increasingly unreliable, unsafe, inefficient and unable to meet the demands of the new energy landscape.

Heitman will help Schneider Electric customers realize the benefits of EcoStruxure Power and the company’s innovative, connected, reliable and efficient solutions, services and expertise. This will enable Schneider Electric customers to achieve top performance and reliability, while effectively controlling costs and reducing risk, transforming electrical infrastructure to respond to today’s and tomorrow’s needs. EcoStruxure Power improves power availability and safety in buildings by monitoring the entire network and boosting protection against shock, fire and explosion.