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Head of Siemens USA traces his success back to Valley roots
POLAND
Eric Spiegel is the president and CEO of Siemens USA, one of the country’s largest corporations.
He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his MBA from Dartmouth College.
His career took him to places such as California and Tokyo before he landed at his current position as head of the company that reported $22.2 billion in revenue last year.
His roots, however, are here in Poland, and he attributes much of his success to what he learned growing up in the Mahoning Valley. He returns this weekend to deliver the commencement speech Sunday at Poland Seminary High School, from which he graduated in 1976.
“Both of my grandfathers worked in the mills. My dad was kind of a self-made guy,” Spiegel said. “I really took away this ethic that it’s going to take hard work to be successful.”
Spiegel, who now lives in McLean, Va., started his journey on Frontier Drive, after his parents moved from the East Side of Youngstown to Poland.
“I spent my whole life until I was 18 in Poland,” he said. He recalls growing up in a small ranch-style house with three siblings. His mother was a nurse at South Side Hospital, and his father was an entrepreneur.
“It was a great place to grow up. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said.
He remembers the Valley at that time as a “tough” place, which is what led him to leave the area. He was a freshman in college during “Black Monday” – the day in 1977 when Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. closed its doors.
“I remember coming back that summer and working, and my dad saying, ‘You better look for opportunities outside of here because everyone’s out of work.’”
He started his career outside of the area for that reason, but he encourages recent graduates to go away to college or work outside of the area for awhile.
“Not because [other places] have more opportunities or it’s a better place to live, but because it’ll widen your horizons,” he said.
For him, that meant passing up a job in Cleveland and moving 2,500 miles away from his then-girlfriend, now-wife and the rest of his family for a job in California. It helped his career immensely, he says.
He still retains strong ties, both personal and professional, to the Valley – for example, in 2013 Siemens announced it would give a $440 million in-kind grant to Youngstown State University’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Spiegel plans to share some stories from his life during his speech to help prepare graduates for what’s next.
One message he plans to share: “Work hard. You’re going to change directions a few times. You’re going to get knocked down a few times.”
Another: “Always remember where you came from. ... And give back.”