Though he has three passports, speaks five languages, has completed three professional degrees and has lived on three continents, Faisal Kazi has only had one employer.
The Pakistan native began working for Siemens soon after earning an engineering degree 33 years ago. Since that time, his career has been as eclectic as the German multinational conglomerate itself, which operates in a range of engineering, technology, health care, energy and infrastructure related verticals.
“My father was an electrical engineer, so as a kid I was very into opening equipment, looking into it,” said Kazi, who has served as president and CEO of Siemens Canada since 2017.
“It was a dream to join Siemens in Pakistan as one of the top engineering companies in the world, but that was a bit short lived, because within months I moved to Germany, which for a young engineer coming out of Pakistan was really a dream come true.”
Kazi spent 16 years in Germany, then four in the Netherlands, before landing in Canada in 2011 to lead the company’s transformer business for the Americas, earning an MBA and a law diploma along the way.
“Going into different functions — from engineering to project management to sales to general management — prepared me very well for this job,” he said. “That’s why, whenever I talk to young talent, I always say ‘don’t jump directly into sales; get your hands dirty first.’”
That wide-ranging, hands-on experience is what Kazi believes landed him the top job at the Canadian arm of the global behemoth. The 176-year-old company employs about 320,000 people in 190 countries, including roughly 4,200 in 30 locations across Canada.
The Star recently spoke with Kazi from the company’s Canadian headquarters in Oakville to discuss how Siemens touches the lives of everyday Canadians in often-unseen ways, its plans for helping the country achieve its climate targets, and how he stays on top of a complex organization with many moving parts.
Most aspire to be an engineer, CEO or lawyer. Why did you pursue all three?
I always had a passion for engineering, but as my career progressed, I realized that when you’re doing large projects a lot of the focus is on the financials, so I thought it made sense to understand the financial aspects. Then I realized you can have the best technology, and the best financial models, but if your contract is weak, you could still lose money, so I got a law diploma.
And then when I came to Canada I was on a lot of boards — like the Business Council of Canada, the Toronto Region Board of Trade, and the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce — so I got a certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
But I am always studying, because technology evolves so quickly, and because Siemens believes in lifelong learning. My most recent course was in artificial intelligence at the University of Waterloo, the one before that was on environmental sustainability, and for the next one I’d like to learn more about generative AI.
What has kept you at Siemens for 33 years?
A lot of people say “you’ve only worked for one company? That’s so boring,” but it’s been a fascinating experience. I’ve had the opportunity to work in different business areas — like the energy sector, infrastructure, the industrial sector — and in different functions, like research and development, engineering, project management, sales and more general management.
I’ve also lived in many different countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, and have done business in many others, inducing the U.S., China, Brazil, and Mexico.
In what ways does Siemens touch the lives of Canadians every day?
Our three main sectors are energy management, automation and digitalization, but we operate in many sectors, often in the background. The power in your home is likely running through Siemens electrical panels, your car was probably designed using Siemens digital software, the chip in your phone was probably designed using Siemens software.
If you take a train from Montreal to Toronto, or light rail in Calgary, it was probably made by Siemens. If you go to the doctor to get an MRI or a CT scan, there’s a high likelihood that it’s from a machine made by Siemens.
Siemens Canada has been around for about 112 years; how has its development coincided with the country’s?
Siemens had a role in shaping the country’s technological development even before 1912.
In 1874 Siemens laid the first telegraph wire line between North America and Europe, which went from Halifax to Ireland.
We established the first light rail system in Canada, the first long distance telephone network, we designed the retractable roof at the Rogers Centre, helped light the CN Tower, and the list goes on.
What are some of the major projects Siemens has planned for Canada’s future?
We use technology to make an impact on society, and one of our biggest focuses right now is climate change. Canada has the ambitious goals of Net-Zero by 2050 and net 0.5 by 2035, as well as no new gas-powered vehicles, but in places like Ontario energy demand is expected to double by 2050.
We’re currently working on a project in Atlantic Canada to create the grid of the future. To transition to cleaner energy, we need to electrify the grid with renewable sources, but it can take years to build a new clean energy power station, so how do you fill that demand?
We recently completed a pilot in Shediac with 400 homes, where we installed a Tesla battery and a solar panel, and connected them with a smart utility, creating a micro-grid in the home. This gives them control over their energy consumption and the ability to sell power back to the grid. In fact, during Hurricane Fiona, the homes that were part of our pilot were the only ones that had power.
The big takeaway is that to meet our climate goals we need to convert consumers into prosumers, producing their own electricity and storing it locally, which helps take the load off the distribution network. We will need to upgrade our power grid and build new clean energy infrastructure, but we can help reduce that investment and get there faster by crowdsourcing power generation.
What role will new technologies like AI play in that future?
When we talk about AI the first thing we need to recognize is its speed. A few years ago, AI was able to recognize objects, then it jumped to predictions by taking past outcomes and projecting future scenarios. A few years later we had another leap to generative AI.
What we’re trying to do is create an industrial metaverse with digital twin technologies, which is a digital replica of a physical object or system, allowing you to go into the digital system to solve real world problems. The next iteration of that is the industrial Metaverse, which uses artificial intelligence.
So, imagine that Canada is building battery plants, and we know that scrap production is higher in battery manufacturing than in other industries. Rather than producing a part, letting it fail, then scrapping it, we can test different metals and mixtures before they get scrapped. Now you can build and test things digitally before building them, and using AI we can identify problems and breakdowns before they occur.
With so many distinct parts to the business to oversee, how do you divide your time?
The first thing for me is to create a culture and an organization which is purpose driven, because then you have a north star, and you can get everyone moving together. We have a clear focus as an organization to fight climate change through technology, help the digitalization journeys of our customers, support innovation and make Canadian industry more efficient and cyber secure.
I spend maybe 30% of my time external facing with customers, another 20% or 30% looking into different aspects of the business, how things are going, making sure everything is in order — which includes employee communication. I also spend some time learning and reflecting, which is very important for just understanding where this ship is going, so that we can be proactive instead of reactive. I believe in this “T” model of management, where you should be able to dive deep into the subject matter, while also seeing the big picture.
What are you most proud of since taking over as president and CEO for Canada seven years ago?
The proudest moment for me and my team was in 2019 when we received the Best Siemens Country Award. Siemens operates in 190 countries, and they look at different metrics — financials, customer impact, impact on society — and it was a very proud moment when Canada was awarded the best country for the first time. Last year we were again in the top three.
The other one that stands out was during one of the biggest challenges I faced in my career, when we were hit with the COVID lockdowns, and we had to figure out how to keep operating safely as a critical service that helps support health care systems. We were one of the only businesses that stayed open, and we had to balance the important roles we played in supporting the country and supporting our employees.
Our office employees went online, but we had to rejig all our factory processes to ensure six feet of separation and figure out how to go into hospitals while keeping our team safe. I’m proud to say that we kept our front-line staff safe and came out of COVID with no work-related cases.
