Meet the CEO: Weidmuller USA’s Randy Sadler

Weidmuller USA’s new CEO joined the company just in time to celebrate the company’s 50th year in North America. But Randy Sadler’s own history with the company goes back decades, too — he joined as a college student and moved all the way up through the ranks. From Richmond, Virginia, he brings German engineering to U.S. customers in energy, data centers, industrial, automation, and more.

Randy Sadler

When Randy Sadler joined Weidmuller USA as president and CEO in 2024, he didn’t need to learn much about the Germany-based company; he’d grown up blocks away from the company’s Richmond, Virginia, facilities and begun his career there in 1985. His new role is a homecoming.

“I actually started right out of high school, working in the production department,” he said. “We had injection molding machines and produced DIN rail terminal blocks and printed circuit board terminals. I was going to college at the same time and Weidmuller helped pay for my education. They were very good to me — it’s a good family organization.”

Sadler moved up from the production floor to become a product specialist, field sales engineer, regional sales manager, and vice president of sales. His path gave him a solid grounding in engineering as well as business acumen. “I can still talk a little bit more ‘technical’ than average. When I was a field sales engineer, I sat down with our largest customer at that time, Honeywell, and we would design control cabinets — high voltage, low voltage. I picked out electrical components from terminal blocks to circuit breakers and relays for their applications.”

After about 15 years, Sadler left Weidmuller for roles with other technology companies; most recently a stint with Catalytic Combustion, where he focused on clean power generation in hyperscale data centers, experience that aligns with Weidmuller’s innovative products for clean energy sources, including wind energy, photovoltaics, and energy storage systems.

Weidmuller’s BOLTcontrol monitoring system for wind turbines

Weidmuller’s BLADEcontrol monitoring system for offshore wind turbines

His diverse experiences helped Sadler formulate a vision of how to lead in a complex business environment. “Having the big picture and understanding all the dynamics at play is essential. We produce finished products in Asia and Europe. We also produce parts all over the world and then assemble those here in the U.S. We are a global company. Currently, we’re seeing how tariffs and global politics have an impact on our business, so I’ve definitely got to know what’s going on in the world.”

Weidmuller USA headquarters, 1975 (left), Weidmuller USA headquarters, 1987 (center), Weidmuller USA headquarters, 2024 (right)

Future forward

As Sadler settles into his next era with Weidmuller, he’s focused on growth markets such as data centers, clean energy, and automation. “We’re blessed with 80,000 part numbers that can serve a wide range of technologies. We supply products from board-level components — terminals and connectors — to simple terminal blocks to automation products. We can provide a power supply, circuit breaker, or surge protection device. We also supply a lot of customer-specific assemblies and products, such as populated boxes for natural gas power plants and solar turbines. We see a lot of growth in clean energy production and battery storage,” he said.

With Weidmuller’s SNAP IN technology, a stripped, flexible, stranded wire connector can be simply inserted in the open connection point.

“We’ve got some great products that come out of Germany. They’re constantly innovating and focusing on precision manufacturing. That’s what they’re really good at, and we rely on that. If you think about German engineering in cars, you don’t hear about problems with BMWs, Audis, and Porsches — those are all good quality cars. And that’s the way the Weidmuller product is as well.”

While most of the company’s R&D is still in Germany, Sadler anticipates that U.S. engineering will influence future product lines. “We have a full staff of engineers with a division leader for each — for automation, device field connectivity, and cabinet products. We’re all talking to customers about ideas for products that we would produce here for the U.S. market,” he said. “I empower our teams to take risks and think big. I want to encourage big, bold ideas.”

Weidmuller USA’s new production facility in Richmond, Virginia

In 2023, Weidmuller USA broke ground on a new 25-acre, 24,000 square foot facility in Virginia, gearing up to expand U.S. production with advanced clean energy technologies including solar energy and EV charging and advanced HVAC systems — all utilizing Weidmüller products. Sadler will lead efforts to fulfill Weidmuller USA’s “Made in USA” commitment by bringing smart industrial connectivity and Industry 4.0 solutions closer to U.S. customers.

Weidmüller was established in Germany in 1850 and has facilities in 80 countries. This year, Weidmuller USA and Weidmuller Canada celebrate 50 years in business. “It is a big milestone. You know, to have the foresight to come here 50 years ago, there was someone pretty smart working for us who said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to invest in the U.S. That’s going to be big someday.’ And obviously it was.”

Learn more about Weidmuller USA’s new manufacturing and engineering facility and its upcoming 50^th anniversary activities.

Like this article? Check out our other Manufacturing and Personnel articles, our Datacom Market Page, and our 2024  and 2025 Article Archive. 

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