2018 CAAT Conference
Testing Tomorrow's Autonomous Vehicles Today

April 20, 2018

Carla Bailo
President and CEO
Center for Automotive Research

Carla Bailo is the President and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), and is a leader in engineering and vehicle program management with 35 years of experience in the automotive industry. Under Carla’s leadership, CAR continues to be a preeminent resource of objective and unbiased research, analysis, and information regarding the North American automotive industry.

In addition to her role at CAR, Carla is the 2016-2018 vice president of automotive for SAE International, a global association of more than 138,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries.

Prior to joining CAR, Carla was most recently the assistant vice president for mobility research and business development at The Ohio State University. Carla also has 25 years of experience at Nissan North America, Inc., where she served as senior vice president of research and development. She also spent 10 years at General Motors.  She has a MS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University.

Mark Chaput is the newest team member for the American Center for Mobility after 30 years at Michigan DOT. Mark is a 1987 graduate of Lawrence Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (Construction). Mark started his MDOT career in a construction position in MDOT’s District 9 (now the Metro Region – greater Detroit area) where he worked on a number of high profile projects including portions of Interstate I-696, widening of M-59 in Oakland County and resurfacing of I-75 in Wayne and Oakland Counties.

He held many management level position including Manager of the Taylor Transportation Service Center (Wayne County – Metro Region), University Region Engineer (10 counties in mid- Micghigan) and more recently the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Filed Service where he ran the day to day operations of Field Services function including Construction and Pavements, Maintenance and Operations, the Research Program and the MDOT ITS Program. Mark has led the advancement of MDOT’s ITS and Connected Vehicle program that is recognized as one of the leaders among State DOTs. Mark was the MDOT lead in coordinating the conversion of US- 12 and associated activities with the American Center for Mobility.

In January 2017, Mark was designated on special assignment to the MDOT Director and is now on loan to the American Center for Mobility where he will continue to coordinate activities with MDOT and will take a lead role on the build out of the ACM Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Test Facility as the Vice President of Construction and Infrastructure Development for ACM.

Jace Allen is the Business Development Manager - Simulation, Test, and EEDM at dSPACE, Inc., where he specializes in embedded software processes, MBD data management, and Validation and Verification (V&V) Systems.  He has designed and managed hundreds of simulation/test and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system implementations for various customers.  Over the past 25 years, he has handled many diverse modeling, controls, and simulation test applications in the automotive, commercial vehicle, and aerospace areas.  His background includes system and MBD product development for vehicle controls/testing, safety/security systems, and data management systems.  A longstanding member of SAE and IEEE, he is also a member of AIAA and INCOSE.  Jace has several patents in sensor technology and has published numerous SAE and AIAA Papers.

Michele Economou Ureste is the executive director at WIN. She served two 4-year terms as the immediate past West Bloomfield Township Supervisor, essentially fulfilling the role of a full-time mayor and city manager. While in this position, she achieved the e-Cities award by streamlining the building permit process; received the JCC President’s Club award for collaborating to develop a community-wide job fair; and effectuated a downtown boulevard roadway improvement project, market study, and town center ordinance amendment that transformed the community gateway to include the first hotel in the township, and new development and facade upgrades throughout the business corridor.

She also comes to WIN with an extensive leadership background in developing training programs in workforce development. At the non-profit trade association formed by the automotive OEMs, Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), she facilitated over a dozen quality management system committees of industry subject matter experts to develop industry guidelines, training programs, and white papers to support the implementation, upon the release, of the QS-9000 and TS 16949 automotive quality system standards. Michele also worked as vice president of Simons-White, a business system training and consulting firm, where she created and established Tier 1 corporate universities for supply chain initiatives and obtained ASQ Six Sigma Black-Belt certification. Michele published the AIAG Business Operating System, Total Quality Management (TQM) Toolkit, and IS0-9000 and the Construction Industry guideline, served on the editorial advisory board of the Informed Outlook in Washington D.C., and served two terms on the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Automotive Division Council and as Editor-in-Chief of the ASQ Automotive Excellence magazine. 

Bob is the Director of the Center for Advanced Automotive Technology at Macomb Community College. Prior to joining the CAAT in August 2012, Bob was an independent automotive consultant advising companies such as ABB, Ecotality, and Ducker Worldwide. He also served as a Chief Engineer at Tesla Motors from October 2008 to July 2009 where he was responsible for Model S.

Bob retired from Chrysler Corporation in 2008, where he was a Chief Engineer for 22 years. His responsibilities included total product and program management for his product lines, managing $1.5 billion in program spending. He led the electric vehicle program for three years, creating the EPIC minivan. Later as Minivan Chief Engineer, he led the Stow N’ Go seat program. In his last assignment, he put the first Chrysler hybrid electric vehicles into production. Bob also worked at Volkswagen for seven years.

Bob holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Wayne State University. Bob is on the Purdue Alumni Association Board of Directors. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He serves on the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress Banquet Committee and several electric vehicle committees. He sits on the Michigan Alliance for Greater Mobility Advancement Governing Board, the Macomb Community College Automotive Technology Advisory Board, the Wayne State University Technology School Industry Advisory Council, and the United Methodist Church Pension and Health Care Board.