People, Performance and Purpose

Andy Bierer, Otis market group lead UK & Nordics and MD UK, seizes opportunities and makes his mark.

Growing up in the heart of coal country in a small town about an hour’s drive south of Pittsburgh, Andy Bierer wanted to be President of the United States (POTUS) when he grew up. That lofty goal, he says, was dashed pretty early on, so he set his sights on banking and went to The Ohio State University to earn a degree in finance. Bierer’s college graduation coincided with the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis, sparking a chain of events that would put Bierer on a path to a vertical-transportation (VT) industry career. The young executive, who today makes his home with his wife and their two young children in London, recalls: 

“I went home to visit my dad, and I ran into an old friend in the neighborhood who I grew up with and happened to be working at Otis. I told him my plans and he went on to tell me all the great things about the elevator business and working for Otis. Coincidentally, he was doing a regional deal involving the Pittsburgh branch, and because of that, he knew that there was a vacancy. He connected me with the hiring manager and, long story short, we were able to quickly come to terms. I quickly realized I had a much better opportunity than what was then available in finance. Opportunity is why I came to Otis originally. Early on, it was about continuing education and being part of a team, and that continues to be my experience here today.” 

Bierer was part of an Otis program that brought young people in right out of college to become company trainees. As a trainee, Bierer spent considerable time supporting various sales and operations roles in the Pittsburgh area. He built repair kits, and delivered parts to mechanics, “what we call engineers here in the U.K.,” and rode along with them frequently. “I visited hundreds of customer sites in those early days and really learned how our business works,” Bierer says. “It shaped my view of the industry, which involves putting the utmost emphasis on good customer service.” He eventually transitioned into service and modernization sales, where he had roles in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia over the next five years.

Taking on New Challenges

At that point in his career, Bierer felt ready to take on a new challenge. So, when he learned about an opening at Schindler to manage repair sales for a very large region, he applied and got the job. Shortly thereafter, another Schindler opportunity presented itself when a District Manager position became available in the NYC area. Bierer secured that job, assuming responsibility for all of Long Island and the NYC outer boroughs. Bierer says: 

“In New York, I cut my teeth not only in P&L management but also on the construction side of the business. Up until that point, my career had been mostly service-based and Schindler had a large new installation business; it was a steep learning curve. I think anytime you take on new challenges, that’s where you learn the most. It was a good experience for me.” 

What came next was particularly pivotal to Bierer’s career. The Otis Pittsburgh branch for which he was previously responsible acquired a long-established company, Marshall Elevator Co., in 2011, meaning, says Bierer, that the branch “essentially doubled in size.” Otis was looking for someone to continue the integration and manage the new, larger entity and called in Bierer. He and his wife just had their first daughter, so he figured it was a good time to return home. 

Following running the Pittsburgh branch, Bierer became Director of Otis’ Mid-Atlantic region, which included New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. He was responsible for eight branches, and it was also at that time he first met Otis President and CEO Judy Marks. Bierer ended up becoming Chief of Staff to Marks, accompanying her on trips around the country and world and widening his industry perspective. “I got to see the full scope and reach of what we do globally, which was really incredible,” he says. 

Bigger Opportunities

This role ushered in further opportunity for Bierer and, he observes, also the company, and Marks was no small part of it. He says: 

“When I first met Judy, she had just become President of Otis and was not only the first female President at the company but the first within United Technologies. She was also the first outside hire to be placed atop at Otis — ever. I think that second point gets lost a little when you talk about Judy: She brought a fresh perspective and energy to the role.” 

Bierer’s deep understanding of how local branches and regions work was very helpful to Marks, and Marks’ familiarity with the boardroom and international matters was very beneficial to Bierer. The number of things he learned during his more than two-year tenure as chief of staff to Marks are too numerous to list, he says, but essentially boil down to “getting really comfortable in the executive level of the organization and, at the same time, seeing the global depth and breadth of Otis.” 

“A big motivator for me is to create opportunities for people like the ones that have been created for me.”

It was after that assignment that Bierer knew he wanted to do something internationally. He discussed it with his wife, and she agreed that their daughter was at a good age to transition to another country. Bierer had visited the U.K. with Marks several times, so when he learned the UK Managing Director (MD) role had become available, he saw it as “an opportunity to come in and make my mark.” He discussed it with Marks and the Otis President of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and realized it was the “right fit at the right time.” He and his family moved to London in January 2020. In early 2022, Bierer’s role expanded to also become the Market Group Leader for the UK and Nordics, assuming P&L and strategic responsibility for the nine-country cluster in Northern Europe. 

In business, Bierer is driven by what he calls the three Ps: people, performance and purpose. Perhaps the most vital “p,” he says, is people and the passion they bring to the industry. Bierer says: 

“I feed off of that. For example, just this week we had our leadership meeting for our market group and invited some of our high-performing employees who are making a difference to just come and introduce themselves. Since the beginning of the year, we put together these 20-min slots where they can come and present on anything they want. The purpose is for us to get to know them and them to get to know us.

“These are people who have tremendous amounts of passion. During meetings, we talk a lot about finance and operations, but the energy that comes out of these sessions when we’re talking to our people, it just changes the atmosphere in the room. A big motivator for me is to create opportunities for people, similar to the ones that have been created for me.” 

Coinciding with Bierer’s three-year anniversary in the U.K. leadership post, Otis received the prestigious ELEVATOR WORLD Project of the Year prize in the Elevators, New Construction category for London’s 22 Bishopsgate (EW, January 2022). Bierer believes this accomplishment is, at least in part, a result of his focus on Otis U.K.’s people, performance and purpose. He says: 

“When I reflect on my time in the U.K., I think we have been very deliberate with our plans to improve across all three Ps. I’ve shared many times with my team that good companies get a couple of these right, but great companies excel in all three. In coming to the U.K., my role started with a focus on people. It became evident quickly that we needed to start with improving our culture. So we put a lot of effort into that — into getting our people more engaged in the business, which makes them generally more optimistic about the future. That has led, then, to better performance. What follows high performance is the successful completion of projects like 22 Bishopsgate, Battersea Chimney and the ongoing work we’re doing on the Elizabeth line and the rest of the London Underground.” 

“What follows high performance is the successful completion of projects like 22 Bishopsgate, Battersea Chimney and also some of the work we’re doing on the Elizabeth line.”

On the “purpose” side, Bierer introduced the Otis U.K. Strategic Framework, which “takes all our priorities and initiatives and puts them into a kind of a picture.” The strategic framework, he observes, “really explains where we are taking the business and how we are going to get there. Bierer says:

“There’s a lot that we’re doing to ensure that the business is built for purpose and that it’s serving the needs and demands of the market and our customers. We spend significant time listening to our teams and to our customers and remaining agile based on their feedback.

“A lot of that is tied back to digitalization. We’ve been able to meet some of those growing demands through the deployment of our Gen 360 lift, which is a fully digitally native lift. It’s a new release for us in the U.K., which will serve the new equipment and construction market. And on the service side, we’ve been able to build on our existing digital architecture that we have for Internet of Things connectivity through a product we call Otis One. Otis One takes connectivity and smart maintenance to the next level based on the data we can collect.”

Also on the purpose side, he notes, are deployment of Otis U.K.’s Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, program. “This is a first at a country level and is derived from the global program for which Judy Marks has been a real champion,” Bierer says. 

From Philly to London

The Bierers’ first home was in Philadelphia, their second in NYC and their third in suburban Connecticut. “We hoped the next place we went would be more a big city, and that’s exactly what we got,” Bierer says. “We live right in the heart of London and enjoy it very much.” Bierer is father to three children: a college-aged son who earned a scholarship in baseball and is studying in the U.S. and two daughters, who live with the couple in London. The oldest is eight and started kindergarten in London and has been helpful with keeping him up to speed on the proper British terminology. “There are a lot of British-isms, for sure. You hear many substitute words for things, like ‘lift’ for ‘elevator,’…that one I needed to learn quickly!” he says. 

“This industry has been very good to me, and I enjoy it very much. It’s kind of in my DNA now.”

When Bierer is not working or spending time with his family, he likes to read, run and hike, particularly in exciting international cities. Edinburgh, Scotland, he says, is his favorite city in the world because of its rich history and amazing views with a mix of grand, historical buildings and verdant countryside — all within close proximity of each other. Although the pandemic put a damper on Bierer’s goal of running a marathon, he recently achieved that goal by completing the 2022 Berlin Marathon, which he describes as “an amazing experience.” 

Although a future as POTUS is still a possibility (Joe Biden ran for the role when he was nearly 80 years old, Bierer observes), a more likely scenario is in a role of perhaps even greater responsibility in the VT industry. He says: 

“This industry has been very good to me, and I enjoy it very much. It’s kind of in my DNA now. I plan to stay in the elevator trade for quite a while and hopefully continue to take on new responsibility and open some new doors. Like I was saying before about people who are passionate, I want to get into roles that are impactful, where I can make a lasting impact by developing future leaders, transforming the way we do things, and building a successful business where all employees can thrive.”