11 May 2026
After a 36year career with the NIEHOFF organization, including 22 years leading its North American operation, Robert Wild retired as president and CEO of Niehoff Endex North America (NENA).
He started out in 1990 as a trainee at the Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Co. KG plant in Schwabach, Germany. Three years later, he became an assistant sales manager and marketing manager. Five years after that he was promoted to area sales manager. In 2005, he became president and CEO of NENA, succeeding Bernd Lohmüller, today Managing Director at NIEHOFF. When Robert Wild retired, NENA employed over 40 people and generated sales of more than USD 100 million in 2024/25. This marked the company´s most successful financial year to date, resulting from the subsidiary´s customer- and service-oriented strategies over the last decades. Wild was also an impressive supporter of The Wire Association International Inc. (WAI): He has served on its Board of Directors since 2019 and was honored with the WAI President’s Award in 2023.
Effective April 1, Andy Zinner will succeed Robert Wild. He has served as Vice President of Operations and Service at NENA since 2022.
Previously, he spent nearly 18 years in senior leadership roles at Leoni Wire Inc., including vice president of sales and operations, president and vice president of sales, and vice president of sales and marketing. Earlier in his career, he worked for Schneider Electric in Germany. Notably, he is also a member of the WAI Board of Directors and a frequent contributor to WAI programs.
Andy Zinner, President and CEO of Niehoff Endex North America (NENA)
He holds an electrical power and automation engineering degree from OTH Regensburg and completed an executive finance program at Harvard Business School.