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Talking Points
Vincenzo Salmeri has been appointed president of CurrentOS, a nonprofit foundation focused on advancing direct current (DC) in electrical distribution systems. His leadership comes at a crucial time as the energy transition accelerates, driven by renewable energy and digital infrastructure. Salmeri aims to enhance the safe and scalable adoption of DC technology.
- Salmeri has nearly 30 years of experience at Schneider Electric, holding various leadership roles across Europe and Asia.
- CurrentOS seeks to establish shared rules and interoperability frameworks for DC systems to ensure safety and scalability.
- Salmeri emphasizes that DC will complement alternating current (AC) by improving efficiency and integrating renewable energy sources.
This appointment is significant as it positions CurrentOS to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of electrical distribution, which is essential for meeting growing energy demands sustainably.
Vincenzo Salmeri, an international senior executive with nearly 30 years of experience at Schneider Electric, has been appointed the new president of CurrentOS, the independent global nonprofit foundation bringing together manufacturers, technology leaders and electrical experts to enable the safe and large-scale deployment of direct current in electrical distribution systems. His appointment marks CurrentOS’ transition into a new phase of international development to accelerate the safe, scalable and interoperable adoption of direct current.
Salmeri’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the energy transition. As electrification accelerates, driven by renewable energy, storage, electric mobility, digital infrastructure and the rapid growth of data centres, DC is emerging as a key enabler of more efficient, flexible and resilient electrical architectures. CurrentOS aims to provide the shared rules, reference architectures and interoperability framework needed to make DC systems safe, repeatable and scalable across the market.
Salmeri has held several global and regional leadership roles across Europe and Asia. His career has spanned product management, business development, digital transformation, commercial strategy and the development of international teams and ecosystems. After starting his career in Italy in operational product marketing for power switching and control solutions, he moved to France in 2001 as global product manager and later global launch manager. In 2008, he relocated to Shanghai to lead business development in Asia-Pacific, where he built a low-voltage APAC team from the ground up and supported an ambitious regional growth plan. He later moved to Hong Kong in a global role focused on the digital transformation of customer relations across 54 countries. Prior to his appointment to CurrentOS, he served as vice-president of the secure power commercial and industrial division at the international level. Salmeri holds a technical diploma in electromechanical engineering from the Amedeo Avogadro Technical Institute in Turin, and an MBA from IAE Pierre-Mendes-France business school in Grenoble, completed while he was based in Shanghai. He has also completed executive education programs at MIT, including one on artificial intelligence strategy with MIT Sloan School of Management and one on sustainability through MIT Professional Education. As president of CurrentOS, Salmeri will lead the execution of the foundation’s strategy and support the continued development of its global ecosystem of partners. His mandate will focus on strengthening governance, accelerating international alliances, supporting certification and education initiatives, and helping the industry converge around shared rules for interoperable DC systems. His experience in large-scale international business development, multicultural leadership and ecosystem building will support CurrentOS in moving from technical momentum to broader industrial adoption.
“Direct Current has a central role to play in the future of electrical distribution,” Salmeri says. “We do not seek to replace AC, but push for the usage of DC where it brings clear advantages: efficiency, simplicity, integration of renewables and storage, and new architectures for fast-growing electrical needs. For DC to be adopted at scale, the industry needs shared rules, open reference architectures and a common interoperability framework. At CurrentOS, our mission is to make DC systems safe, simple, repeatable and multi-vendor by design. By bringing together leading industrial players, experts and alliances, we want to create the conditions for DC to become a practical foundation for the next phase of electrification and the global energy transition.”
The CurrentOS Foundation aims to promote a unified approach for DC microgrids. It brings together a network of manufacturers and electrical experts who set rules for the production and installation of compatible devices that operate safely within electrical distribution networks based on direct current.