Westinghouse Power Generation in Orlando: A Timeline of Managerial and Organizational Evolution

Today, in 2016, the national headquarters of Siemens Energy, Inc., located east Orlando on Alafaya Trail near University Boulevard—ust across from the University of Central Florida—is a major part of the Central Florida business community. Almost forgotten, however, is the fact that the original developer and occupant of the site was the Power Generation Business Unit (PGBU) of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, one of America’s foremost industrial companies whose history spanned the 100-year period starting in the late 1800s until the late 1990s. In 1998, PGBU was acquired by Siemens, AG of Germany.

The story of Westinghouse's PGBU in Orlando began around 1980, when it was decided by corporate management that the various segments of the business should be moved from their separate locations in eastern and western Pennsylvania and consolidated into one central operation. A search for a location resulted in selection of the Orlando area, and the large piece of land that was to be developed as The Quadrangle was purchased for the new World Headquarters of Westinghouse Power Generation.

The actual move to Orlando of the Steam Turbine Generation Division (STGD) took place from 1982 to 1983. Initially, the group occupied a vacant shopping plaza on Colonial Drive (Florida State Road 50), while awaiting completion of the new World Headquarters building in November of 1983.

From 1987 to 1988, STGD was joined in Orlando by two other important parts of the Westinghouse Power Generation group: the Combustion Turbine Operations (CTO), which migrated from Concordville, Pennsylvania; and the Power Generation Services Division (PGSD), which relocated from its headquarters in Broomall, Pennsylvania.

This exhibit provides an historical timeline that traces the evolution of the managerial and professional organization of the many people who were Westinghouse Power Generation from the time of its move to Orlando in the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, when major changes in the corporate structure and focus of Westinghouse led to the sale of the PGBU to Siemens, AG of Germany in 1998. The exhibit contains copies of internal memoranda, letters, and organizational charts that were distributed to employees during the period.

The managerial history of Westinghouse Power Generation in Orlando starts under the general management of Dr. Stanley Quick, and continues through the era of Howard Pierce and Bob Ractcliffe, followed by that of Tom Campbell, Frank R. Bakos and Romano Salvatori, and Randy Zwirn, whose leadership at the site spanned the over-20-year period from 1994 through 2016, when he retired as CEO of the Power Generation Services Division of Siemens AG and also serves as President and CEO of Siemens Energy, Inc.