Prith Banerjee, managing director of Global Technology R&D at Accenture, joined Schneider Electric early September 2015 as chief technology officer. Prith is a member of the Schneider Electric Executive Committee.

Prith will be in charge of accelerating Schneider Electric’s R&D throughput and of driving the Innovation and R&D Simplification Programs under the Company Program “Schneider is On”. In his previous position, Prith was responsible for overseeing Accenture’s Technology R&D group, leading the TechnologyLabs, which explores new and emerging technologies, directing Accenture’s annual Technology Vision research, and supervising Accenture’s Open Innovation program with startup companies and universities.

Previously, Prith was chief technology officer and executive vice president of ABB, and earlier, he was senior vice president of research at HP and director of HP Labs. Formerly, he spent more than 20 years in academia as a Professor, Department Chairman, and Dean at the University of Illinois, and Northwestern University. Prith has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.