Fieldbus appointment

Larry O’Brien has been appointed as global marketing manager of Fieldbus Foundation (FF). Formerly of ARC Advisory Group, he has 18 years of experience in the process automation business as a research director and analyst at ARC, and has been closely tracking and reporting on developments surrounding Foundation fieldbus for much of his career.

Larry O'Brien

As global marketing manager, he will be responsible for developing the strategic marketing direction for Foundation technology worldwide. He will oversee activities such as fieldbus seminar programs, trade show exhibitions, technical demonstrations and marketing communications.

“I am very excited to begin my work at the Fieldbus Foundation,” said O’Brien. “For many years, I have been writing about the business value proposition of Foundation fieldbus at ARC. Now I get to use the knowledge and experience I have gained to raise the level of awareness of this technology for both end users and suppliers. ARC has always believed that Foundation fieldbus offers a true process automation infrastructure providing significant lifecycle cost benefits and a path to superior asset management.“

Fieldbus Foundation President and CEO Rich Timoney welcomed O’Brien to the key post with his organisation. “We are excited to have Larry as part of our team, and look forward to his leadership of our global marketing program in support of Foundation fieldbus,” said Timoney. “From his time with ARC, Larry has gained an extensive background in the area of digital plant automation. His qualifications will be very helpful in expanding the presence of Foundation technology around the world — particularly in developing industrial markets such as India, China, Latin America and the Middle East.”

While at ARC, O’Brien authored numerous market outlook studies and white papers covering topics ranging from fieldbus to distributed control systems, process safety systems, automation services and field instruments. For the Fieldbus Foundation, he has written white papers on the business value proposition of control in the field, Foundation Fieldbus for Safety Instrumented Functions (FF-SIF), and Foundation fieldbus as an automation infrastructure.