Sabrina Soussan has been named CEO of dormakaba Holding AG, which oversees dormakaba Americas. Soussan’s role with dormakaba will begin April 1, 2021.
The Board of Directors appointed Soussan after a thorough search. Soussan is co-CEO of Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of transport solutions headquartered in Munich, Germany, since 2017, and held several leadership positions in Siemens’ mobility, building technologies and automotive businesses over the past 20 years.
In line with previous communications, Riet Cadonau, CEO of dormakaba Group since 2011, will hand over his CEO responsibilities at the end of March 2021 and focus on his role as chairman, after his expected re-election at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. With a view to ensuring a smooth transition, Soussan will join dormakaba at the beginning of 2021 as a member of the executive committee.
“I am excited to be joining dormakaba and working with the team to build on the company’s strengths, providing customers with high-quality solutions and market-leading innovation,” Soussan says. “I want to thank the Board of Directors for the confidence they have placed in me to lead dormakaba, and I will bring all my dedication and passion for people, technology and innovation to enable dormakaba to further exploit its potential in rapidly changing markets.”
Vice Chairman Hans Hess, lead independent director and chair of the nomination committee of dormakaba, says, “Sabrina Soussan combines strong leadership and personal skills, profound industrial knowledge and a successful track record of growing businesses profitably. We are pleased that she will be joining dormakaba and assuming the CEO role as of next April, and we are looking forward to working with her to further develop dormakaba as a leading access and security solutions provider. In pursuing dormakaba’s ambitions, we will continue to count on the strategic foresight of Riet Cadonau as Chairman. In the last almost 10 years as CEO, he has successfully established a leading global full-range access supplier and guided the group into the digital future of our industry, very well-positioned dormakaba in its markets, and his experience is extremely valuable also in view of the current challenging economic environment.”
Prior to her role as co-CEO of Siemens Mobility, Soussan was CEO of the Mainline Transport business unit within Siemens’ Mobility Division from 2015 to 2017 and vice president, commuter and regional trains from 2013 to 2015. In addition, she was CEO of the Rolling Stock business unit at Siemens from 2017 to 2018. From 2009, she was with Siemens Building Technologies in Switzerland as head of strategy and marketing for Building Automation until 2011, and as vice president, sustainability and energy management until 2013. Her prior roles at Siemens also include various management positions in the field of automotive powertrain solutions. She started her career in 1994 as an Engine Research & Development Engineer at Renault in Paris.
Soussan holds a master’s degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d´Aéronautique (ENSMA) and an MBA from the University of Poitiers and the University of Dublin. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of ITT Inc. since 2018 and a member of the Board of Directors of Schaeffler AG since 2019.
