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Johnson Controls Announces Joakim Weidemanis as Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Johnson Controls, a global provider of smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Joakim Weidemanis as chief executive officer (CEO), effective March 12, 2025.

Weidemanis succeeds George R. Oliver following a thorough succession planning process. Oliver, who led the company’s successful transformation into a pure-play building solutions provider, will continue to serve as non-executive chairman of the board until July 31, 2025.

Johnson ControlsAt that time, he will be succeeded as chairman by Mark P. Vergnano, who has served on the Johnson Controls Board since 2016. Oliver will remain as an advisor to the company until Dec. 31, 2025, to provide ongoing support and ensure a smooth leadership transition.

Weidemanis is a seasoned operator with a successful track record in leading global technology-driven businesses and delivering profitable growth. He held several executive leadership roles over his 13-year career at Danaher Corp., providing him with extensive experience scaling global companies from a foundation of customer orientation, innovation and efficiency. He most recently served as executive vice president, diagnostics and China at Danaher, where he was responsible for operational leadership of an approximately $15 billion group across eight global technology businesses. Through acquisitions and organic growth, the revenue of Danaher’s diagnostics business grew significantly over a four-year period during his leadership.

Earlier in his career, he held executive positions of increasing operational responsibility at Mettler Toledo and ABB. Weidemanis has lived and worked in the United States, Europe and Asia over the course of his approximately 30-year career.

“The board identified Joakim as uniquely suited to lead Johnson Controls during its next chapter of growth as a pure-play provider of comprehensive solutions for commercial buildings,” said Jürgen Tinggren, lead independent director of the Johnson Controls Board. “Joakim’s approach to leading service-oriented businesses aligns well with both the Johnson Controls approach and our end-to-end operating model. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated remarkable ability as an operator of large global businesses, scaling both organically and inorganically, and is adept in shaping product portfolios and leveraging technology to deliver best-in-class financial performance.”

Tinggren continued, “As we have made substantial progress in our transformation, George has set the stage for Johnson Controls to capitalize on the opportunities ahead. On behalf of the Johnson Controls Board, we thank him for his remarkable leadership over the last eight years.

“As I come to know Johnson Controls, I am energized by its mission-driven culture and strong 140-year legacy of developing market-leading technology and solutions that enable customers to manage their facilities in a smarter, more sustainable and more productive way,” Weidemanis stated. “I am deeply passionate about leading global technology-driven businesses that help customers advance their goals and make a meaningful, positive impact on society. I look forward to leveraging my experience and the foundation George and the team have built to deliver on the company’s full potential for customers, employees and shareholders.”

“Joakim is the ideal person to lead Johnson Controls as CEO,” Oliver added. “The efforts we have made over the past eight years have transformed Johnson Controls into a simpler, more profitable and faster growing company better able to deliver on our financial and operational objectives. As we build on the Johnson Controls momentum from fiscal 2024, I look forward to working with Joakim and the team to ensure a smooth leadership transition and a promising future for Johnson Controls.”

Johnson Controls Acquires FogHorn, AI, IoT Software Developer

Johnson Controls has completed the acquisition of FogHorn, a developer of Edge AI software for the industrial and commercial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

“Value is increasingly being created by applying intelligence at the edge-device level to create real-time, secure, actionable insights,” said Johnson Controls Chief Technology Officer Vijay Sankaran. “By pervasively integrating Foghorn’s world class Edge AI throughout our OpenBlue solution portfolio, we are accelerating the pace towards our vision of smart, autonomous buildings that continuously learn, adapt and automatically respond to the needs of the environment and people.”

As the number of sensors and amount of data in buildings continues to grow, the value of processing data and applying intelligence at the edge, without having to send data to the cloud, becomes increasingly pronounced.

Sastry Malladi, who served as chief technology officer at Foghorn, will join Johnson Controls, reporting to Sankaran as vice president, OpenBlue artificial intelligence.

“We are thrilled to bring the Foghorn team and edge AI capabilities to Johnson Controls and OpenBlue,” Malladi said. “By combining our respective strengths, Johnson Controls can make an even bigger impact on continuing to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges of decarbonization, sustainability and energy efficiency, indoor air quality and smart, secure buildings.”

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. FogHorn’s technical team will be integrated into the OpenBlue Solutions organization. FogHorn’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California will function as an ‘AI Hub’ for Johnson Controls.