Peter Terwiesch was born in 1966. He studied electrical engineering with an emphasis on control and feedback control systems at the University of Karlsruhe (TH) and wrote his diploma thesis about model predicitve control at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Physique in Strasbourg. With an interdisciplinary study about nonlinear optimization of batch process with model uncertainties he received his doctor's degree as Dr. sc. techn. ETH at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich. After holding several positions with ABB Corporate Research in Switzerland and in Germany, among them as global Head of Automation research and as Head of the ABB Corporate Research Center in Switzerland, he became a member of the Managing Board of ABB Switzerland in 2001, being responsible for the Industry division. At the same time he took over technology responsibility for the same division on a Group level. From 2003 to 2005 he led the Process Automation business in Germany and was Managing Director of ABB Automation GmbH. At the same time, he became head of technology of the Group division automation technology. In 2005, he was appointed Chief Technology Officer, responsible for research, development and technology of the ABB Group. In July 1, 2011 he assumed the role as Regional Manager for Central Europe and CEO of ABB AG, Germany. Peter Terwiesch is married and has two children.