Kevin Barker named as new president of Beckhoff Automation LLC

Kevin Barker

Automation manufacturer Beckhoff Automation has named Kevin Barker as the new president of Beckhoff Automation LLC to manage Beckhoff business operations across the U.S.

Barker replaces outgoing president Aurelio Banda, who held the position for four years. Under Banda’s leadership, Beckhoff Automation LLC grew its revenue and business, finishing fiscal year 2018 with nearly US$80 million in U.S. sales, new field offices, and more employees.

As the new president, Barker will oversee all sales, engineering, marketing and administrative operations from the headquarters of Beckhoff Automation LLC in Savage, Minn. Prior to joining Beckhoff, Barker worked at Yaskawa America, Inc. as the director of sales in the company’s motion division. Barker, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Illinois Wesleyan University, also held director-level positions at Mitsubishi Electric Automation and Omron Electronics earlier in his career.

“As a proven manager of large, cross-functional teams, and an esteemed expert on motion control, EtherCAT and general automation technologies, Kevin Barker is well prepared to guide Beckhoff Automation LLC to the next phase of business development,” Hans Beckhoff, managing director and founder of Beckhoff Automation, said in a statement. “Kevin’s expertise and abilities align very well with our philosophy to implement leading automation technology based on Beckhoff’s PC Control principles, in close collaboration with customers.”