Dr Ing. Bernhard Thies, born in 1951, studied Power Engineering at RWTH Aachen, followed by his doctorate at Institut für Allgemeine Elektrotechnik und Hochspannungstechnik.
From 1984 to 1998 he held various positions at ABB (BBC).
In 1999 Dr Thies started as Deputy Managing Director of the DKE (German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies of DIN and VDE), followed with the nomination as Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2007.
Since October 2008 Dr Bernhard Thies holds lectures at the RWTH Aachen “Protective Measures and Equipment in Power Supply Systems and Electrical Installations” (Master Studies Electrical Power Engineering.)
In his capacity as Secretary of the German National Committee of IEC and CENELEC Dr Thies also represented German interests in various Management Committees up to 2015.
In March 2014 he was elected as Chairman for the External Relations Committee of CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.
Since 2012 2nd Charman of the Board and founder of EEBus Initiative.
In January 2015 Dr Thies has started his duties as the incoming CENELEC President; his CENELEC presidency will last from 2016 until 2018.
Since May 2017 he retired from DKE.