BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
Adam Bernard, AutoPerspectives
Vice President
Jeff Schuster, S&P Global Mobility
Secretary
Treasurer
Jeff Bagalis, Accurity Group
Jeff Bagalis is Managing Director at Accurity Group, LLC. He is also the founding member of Bagalis Advisory LLC.
Prior to his current role, Jeff was Director in the Dispute Advisory & Forensic Services Group for Stout. He provided litigation consulting services for purposes including professional malpractice, financial reporting fraud, automotive industry OEM and supplier claims, business interruption claims, post-acquisition disputes. In connection with these services, he regularly performed fact finding and discovery assistance, lost profit calculations, business valuations, lost earnings and wages computations, and other financial analyses.
Directors
Abey Abraham, Ducker
As Managing Director at Ducker Worldwide, Abey works closely with key North American and Global accounts to help achieve strategic growth objectives. With a core focus on Ducker’s light vehicle and materials practice, Abey is actively involved in client initiatives including alternative light weighting and materials strategies, telematics and infotainment technology assessment, alternative supplier assessments, as well as market entry in developing regions.
Abey has extensive research and strategic planning expertise in the automotive and material industries. With over 12 years of experience Abey directs multiple client engagements in the fields of technology trend assessment, competitive analysis, the voice of customer, market size and segmentation and data modeling. Since joining Ducker, Abey has managed several global initiatives throughout out the world including leading project teams throughout Europe and Asia. Abey is a speaker for many automotive market events including light vehicle material trends and market entry strategies for foreign markets.
Abey holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Michigan State University. Prior to joining Ducker, Mr. Abraham held positions within US Airways Corporation and CDW Corporation in Account Management, Strategy, and Business & Product Development disciplines. He is an active member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Andy Almy, BorgWarner
Andy Almy is currently Director, Global Market Research at BorgWarner. Andy, who has been at BorgWarner for more than 20 years, has held various positions with increasing responsibility in Market Research, Strategic Planning, Marketing & Communications and Government Affairs.
Prior to joining BorgWarner, Andy held positions in market forecasting and competitor analysis at General Motors (Corporate Strategy) and CSM Worldwide (now S&P Global Mobility).
Andy earned a Master of Business Administration from Michigan State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science & Business Administration from Alma College.
Mark Barrott, Plante Moran
Anne Cascadden, Canadian Consulate General
As the Trade Commissioner responsible for the Automotive Industry within the Consulate General of Canada in Detroit, Anne Cascadden has responsibilities to promote Canadian supplier capabilities and investment value proposition in this industry within the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
Anne has been with the Consulate for over 25 years. She began in the Tourism division before moving to Trade in 1993 and took over the automotive file in 2000.
Ms. Cascadden was born in Windsor, Ontario. She holds diplomas in Communications and Tourism Marketing and a B.S. degree in Political Science.
Ken Horbatiuk, Stellantis
Ken Horbatiuk is Manager of Competitive Intelligence for NAFTA FCA US LLC. With over 32 years at the company, he has held various positions with increasing responsibility in Sales Operations, Product Strategy and Product Planning. Prior to joining FCA, he worked at GM of Canada.
He is an automotive consultant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a life-time member with the Automotive Hall of Fame and a member of the Automotive Press Association.
Ken received his BBA with Majors in Business and Economics from Northwood University and has served as Adjunct Instructor at the institution. He also earned an MBA with a Marketing concentration from Wayne State University.
Manoj Jasrotia, Caresoft Global
Colin Langan, Wells Fargo
Colin Langan is a Director in the General Industrials group at UBS covering the US Automotive sector. He joined UBS in 2005 as an Associate Analyst in this sector.
Earlier in his career, Colin was a Senior Associate at Deloitte & Touche. He holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School and a BS in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame. Colin is a CFA charterholder and a certified public accountant.
Fred Hubacker, H Advisors
Biography
Fred Hubacker has over 40 years of significant experience providing senior leadership, advisory and business development services for companies in the automotive industry. He has served in numerous executive roles throughout his tenure with Venture Companies Worldwide, New Venture Gear Inc., Textron Inc., Acustar, Inc., the Chrysler components manufacturing subsidiary, and Chrysler Corporation.
Previous Experience
Prior to joining Conway MacKenzie, Mr. Hubacker was a Senior Executive consultant responsible for evaluating potential automotive acquisitions for Apollo Management LLC and additionally for Wynnchurch Capital. Prior to that, he was Vice Chairman for Venture Companies Worldwide where he led all business development activities and customer marketing efforts for the Company. Mr. Hubacker served as the Chief Executive Officer for New Venture Gear, a $1.8B supplier of driveline components where he led the Company to four consecutive record profitable years. He also served as President and COO of Textron Automotive Company and Group Vice President of Textron Inc. Textron Automotive was a $2B supplier of interior/exterior plastic components, metal stampings, fuel systems, and engine and seating components. He began his career at Chrysler Corporation where he advanced to numerous senior financial and operating positions including CFO of Acustar and Group Controller, Procurement and Supply Operations. As a leading expert in the automotive industry, Mr. Hubacker has significant interaction with senior executives and board members on various financial and operational issues and has been the lead advisor and interim CEO in several major automotive operational and due diligence assignments. Notable assignments at Conway MacKenzie have included; Delphi restructuring team, lender advisor regarding the Chrysler restructuring, advisor to numerous private equity firms regarding acquisitions of HHI, Metaldyne , Chrysler Viper operations and the Ford Premier Automotive Group. Most recently, Mr. Hubacker served as interim President & CEO of Gill Industries.
Education & Professional Organizations
Mr. Hubacker received his Master of Business Administration from Wayne State University and his Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University. He has served on numerous corporate Boards of Directors, including: Axle Tech International, Android Industries, JL French, Noble International, Jervis B. Webb , Burgaflex, Delta Technologies and Gill Industries. He is currently on the board of the Society of Automotive Analysts (SAA) , FIRST in Michigan as well as the Board of Trustees of the Beaumont Health System. He is also a former Board member of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA).
Jeremy Lamb, Donnelly Penman and Partners
Jeremy L. Lamb, CFA
Managing Director
Automotive & Truck
Current Experience
At DPP, Mr. Lamb specializes in mergers and acquisitions, valuations, financial advisory, fairness opinions and due diligence services for the automotive, manufacturing, distribution and service industries.
Past Experience
Prior to joining DPP, Mr. Lamb was a Senior Analyst in Stout Risius Ross' Transaction Advisory Group, where he specialized in financial opinions, such as fairness and solvency opinions, related to merger and acquisition, and recapitalization transactions. Prior to that, he worked with Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance where he provided advisory services related to mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance.
Education
Mr. Lamb has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. degree in Finance. Mr. Lamb also has Series 7, 24, 63, and 79 licenses with FINRA.
Cristi Landy
Cristi Landy is the former Lead Vehicle Product Manager at Waymo - formerly known as Google Self-driving Car Project.
Prior to joining Waymo, Cristi was the Director of Global Chevrolet Product Strategy at General Motors. Before that, she was Chevrolet Marketing Director responsible for Small Cars and Electric Vehicles. Cristi was the Product Marketing Manager for the Chevrolet Volt from concept car to production.
Throughout her career, she has held a variety of positions in Engineering, Marketing, Program Management and Portfolio Planning. Cristi began her career at GM as an engineer at Saturn. In her first assignment, she was awarded a patent on engine diagnostics.
Cristi holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Michigan.
Raj Paul, Microsoft
Raj Paul serves as Microsoft’s Regional Automotive Industry Business Leader for the Americas and India regions. He has responsibility for developing Microsoft’s Automotive Industry solutions portfolio, including joint solutions with key partners and go-to market initiatives. He supports vehicle manufacturers and mobility service providers including their suppliers with innovative solutions and strategies that accelerate digital transformation.
Raj is a passionate advocate of the connected world. With more than 20 years of experience in the Automotive industry, he has been involved in the evolution of vehicle connectivity – creating the in-vehicle innovations and infrastructure to connect owners and OEMs with their vehicles and with each other. Through his efforts in Telematics and Infotainment at various OEMs, he has helped create new Automotive experiences, new ways of connecting with customers and platforms that fuel Intelligence.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Raj was Sr. Vice President for Automotive and IoT at Lochbridge/Compuware providing strategic leadership for the advancement of the firm’s connected services portfolio. Raj has a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Arlington and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Madras. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School General Management Program.
David Petrovski, S&P Global Mobility
David Petrovski is Director, Automotive Sales at IHS Markit. David is responsible for relationship management with automotive suppliers in the OE and aftermarket space, helping them along the data journey, unlocking the potential of it to enhance decision making. He leads and motivates a sales organization to achieve superior customer service and colleague engagement, while achieving revenue goals.
Prior to his business development role, David served as a Principal Analyst in the North American Powertrain Forecasting group at IHS Markit and has more than 15 years of experience in automotive marketing research and consulting with a focus on powertrain production and powertrain sales forecasting. His specialties included transmission/driveline forecasting, and future powertrain product program intelligence and market analysis. With the enactment of new emissions and fuel efficiency regulations across the globe, David played a critical role in using the IHS Markit powertrain sales forecast to develop a compliance strategic planning solution with IHS Markit partner Novation Analytics (acquired by IHS Markit in 2019).
Prior to joining IHS Markit, David was a Senior Analyst at The Martec Group where he was responsible for market research and consulting engagements on behalf of Fortune 500 clients in the automotive and specialty chemical industries. These engagements included new product assessments, product value and positioning, market size and segmentation, value-chain analysis, and product/technology benchmarking.
He graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering and he has been an invited speaker for supplier planning sessions, IHS Markit hosted events and other automotive industry conferences. He also serves on the advisory board of the CTI symposium in the US, which is an annual conference dedicated to the latest automotive transmission, hybrid and electric drive technology developments.
Anthony Pratt, Ford Motor Co.
Ethan Snyder, Hyundai Motor America
Ethan Snyder is an automotive strategist with a history of success channeling industry curiosity to impact business planning and product development. Currently he is Director of Product Planning for Rivian, an electric vehicle start-up based in Plymouth, MI.
Known for insightful competitive analysis as a Product Planner with Infiniti, he worked on virtually every vehicle in the portfolio. This included upstream concept development for Q50 and next generation crossovers, QX80 minor change, quality standards, and special editions. Snyder has broad-based experience developing global relationships, and influencing, coaching and leading others. He is an expert in using automotive planning resources including JD Power PIN, Strategic Vision, R.L Polk, PAI, and AutoPlanner, to generate rich, cohesive, and persuasive “executive friendly” presentations. At Nissan, Snyder also held key roles in business strategy, socio-economic forecasting, and marketing.
In April of 2016 he earned an MBA with Distinction from the University Of Michigan. For his Multidisciplinary Action Project, Ethan traveled to Limerick, Ireland and led a team of physicians to develop a strategic marketing plan for a start-up physical therapy mobile application launching in the UK. He holds a B.S. in Management with a minor in Philosophy from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Ethan began his career at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as an Information Management business partner. At J&J he conceived and implemented an enterprise-wide initiative to improve the level of accessibility on company websites for people with disabilities. Later he led a global medical affairs effort to automate clinical trial reviews.
Prompted by a lifelong love of cars, Snyder was fortunate to transition to a dream job in Automotive in 2007. He found that many of the fundamental skills he developed at J&J, most notably how to develop a deep understanding of customer needs, were directly transferable to his work as a Product Planner.
Ethan Snyder currently resides in Northville, MI and Franklin, TN. He is an Eagle Scout and his passions include family, running, music, and automotive restoration. Personal Email: ebsnyder@umich.edu
Ann Marie Uetz, Foley & Lardner
Ann Marie Uetz is a partner and trial attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP, and is Vice Chair of the firm’s national Litigation Department. Practicing for nearly three decades, she represents upper and middle market businesses in their contracts and business disputes, as well as debtors, creditors and secured and unsecured lenders in all facets of financing and restructuring. Ann Marie focuses on the manufacturing industry – chiefly suppliers in the automotive and defense industries – and advises her clients on acquisitions, procurement and supply contracts and disputes that arise within the supply chain. She is one of the authors of “Accelerating Trends: Assessing the Supply Chain in a Post-Pandemic World,” Foley’s recent report analyzing trends and future developments in the supply chain. Ann Marie is recognized by the National Law Review as a 2020 Go-To Thought Leader in the area of “COVID-19: Manufacturing Impact.”
Ann Marie heads Foley’s Coronavirus Task Force and is co-founder of the firm’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Ann Marie is also a member of the firm’s Automotive Industry Team and served as a founder and co-chair of its national Automotive Crisis Response Team, comprised of more than 50 attorneys across the firm in various disciplines, representing more than 100 automotive suppliers. Chambers USA recognized Foley’s Automotive Industry Team as a leading national practice for 2017, based on confidential in-depth interviews with clients and attorneys from across the country, scoring on technical legal ability, client service, diligence and other qualities most valued by clients.
Ann Marie focuses her practice on business litigation and bankruptcy, two of Foley’s practice areas recently ranked by U.S. News—Best Lawyers® as “national First-Tier” practices in recognition of excellence in client service. Ann Marie works with an extensive network of business leaders and professionals, and in 2015 was included in Crain’s Most Connected list, highlighted as one of the 100 most connected businesspeople in metro Detroit.
Bankruptcy and Business Litigation Practice
Ann Marie is former chair of the Litigation Department in Foley's Detroit office and former vice chair of the firm’s national Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practice. She provides clients who are working in distressed business situations with practical and creative representation to protect their interests and achieve their business goals. Foley's Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practice provides a wide range of representation, including that of borrowers and chapter 11 debtors, protecting creditor’s rights in insolvency and advising on asset acquisition. BankruptcyLaw360 has fittingly ranked this practice as one of the top ten bankruptcy practices in the nation.
Ann Marie represents clients in restructuring, bankruptcy and business disputes in federal bankruptcy and district courts across the country. She frequently represents debtors, secured lenders, creditor committees, indenture trustees and trustees in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. She has also advised clients on the strategic sale and acquisition of distressed assets, both inside and outside of the court process. Ann Marie splits her practice between distressed debt workouts and contract/supply chain work for manufacturers, and often her work intersects these two areas. She provides counsel to customers and suppliers regarding their contracts and their best business position both prior to and after a bankruptcy filing by one of their suppliers or customers.
Ann Marie has extensive and unique knowledge of the manufacturing supply chain, including manufacturing and technology agreements. This includes supply contract negotiations, drafting supply contracts, surcharge and capacity issues, stop-ship situations and pricing disputes. These transactions often include tripartite agreements among the troubled supplier, its significant customers and its secured lenders to solidify the commitments of each party to keep the supplier operating while the workout (or bankruptcy) is progressing. These agreements commonly consist of access and accommodation agreements and subordinated participation agreements. Through an accommodation agreement, the customers may provide (often as a group) accommodations that solidify the lenders’ collateral base through protections on inventory and receivables, commitments to continue sourcing of existing parts to the troubled supplier and limitations on setoffs, while the lender agrees to provide working capital financing and not to foreclose. An access agreement permits the customer, under certain circumstances threatening production and only as a last resort, to access the supplier’s plant to produce parts pending transfer of the contract or facility to a healthier supplier. Ann Marie has negotiated these agreements routinely in troubled company situations and is deeply familiar with them and the underlying issues.
Ann Marie brings to the manufacturing sector a unique combination of knowledge and experience under the Uniform Commercial Code (i.e., the UCC), the Bankruptcy Code, as well as significant trial experience. She is thus able to advise her clients regarding their existing rights and legal obligations as well as counsel how those rights and obligations might be affected by the threatened insolvency or actual bankruptcy filing by her clients’ customers or suppliers. This provides her clients with the tools they need to gain traction in contract negotiations and best leverage their position in this evolving economic environment. She provides personal and remote training to her clients to help them manage their contracts and other risk.
Ann Marie is also a member of Foley’s Finance & Financial Institutions and Real Estate Practices. Much of Ann Marie's work focuses on distressed debt workouts, representing borrowers, receivers and CROs in all phases of workouts. She provides training for her clients and ensures that they retain all of their legal and equitable rights in the event of a default. Ann Marie and her team negotiate and draft loan documents, forbearance agreements, related real estate documents and all documents necessary to protect the client's security interest in collateral securing loan obligations.
Peer Recognition and Awards
Ann Marie has established herself as a go-to business counselor and litigator who partners with her clients. Her work stands apart from many of her peers, and she has been well recognized for her superior legal skills and client service.
- Most notably, Ann Marie has been honored since 2013 in The Best Lawyers in America© for her work in commercial litigation, and since 2018 for her work in bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law.
- Ann Marie has also been recognized by Leading Lawyers: Top Lawyers in Michigan, including in 2020, in the following areas: bankruptcy & workouts, commercial litigation, and creditor’s rights.
- She has been honored since 2008 in the Michigan Super Lawyers® lists for her work in the areas of business litigation, bankruptcy and real estate, following a rigorous selection process involving peer reviews and independent research.
- She has been named to DBusiness Magazine’s list of Top Lawyers in the areas of bankruptcy, business law and real estate law – a list that draws nominations from over 21,000 attorneys.
- Ann Marie was selected by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as one of its 20 Women in the Law for the year 2012.
- She has been Peer Review Rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system.
- She was named to Crain’s Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan in 2017.
- She was recently named to Crain’s Most Connected List, representing the 100 most connected businesspeople in metro Detroit.
Mike VanNieuwkuyk, Ipsos
Mike VanNieuwkuyk is a senior vice president, senior automotive client officer, and advisory lead at Ipsos. Mike has more than 35 years of experience in customer-related research and product development. He serves as a client officer, overseeing our automotive business relations and serves as the U.S. lead on the global automotive leadership team. Mike also leads our automotive consultancy practice, driving consumer insights into client strategy.
Prior to joining Ipsos, Mike led Advanced Product Development for Lear Corporation, overseeing the ideation, design and development of future automotive offerings, including innovations in seating, ergonomics, infotainment, storage and interior convenience features. While at JD Power, Mike led global business development and served as the practice lead for automotive component quality and emerging technologies.
Mike is a published author on methods for relating customer satisfaction to engineering design specifications and has been a featured speaker at the Automotive News World Congress, CAR Management Briefings, UMTRI Automotive Futures, Automated Vehicles Symposium, American Society of Quality Annual Conference and the Wards Interior and User CX Conferences. Mike serves as the automotive client lead for key OEM and supplier accounts. He also leads our focus on automotive trends, technologies and advanced product development, providing research and consultative services on new vehicle offerings, sales and service process, connectivity, driver assistance, safety, infotainment, convenience, interiors and alternative powertrain.
Chairperson
Steve Hallman, Magna International
Steve Hallman is Global Marketing Director of Cosma International, Magna's body and chassis operating unit. He directs the marketing & communications of Magna’s body and chassis group. Steve joined the company in 2013 as Market Research Manager of Magna International.
Steve offers over 25 years of experience in a variety of advisory, market research, and business development roles including Rhode Solutions, J.D. Power, Covisint, and Lear Corporation.
Steve holds a master’s degree in applied demography from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.