The Michigan Automotive Suppliers Symposium is a yearly event bringing together business owners, senior management, and decision-makers from all tiers of the automotive industry. This premier automotive supplier event provides the most up-to-date industry forecasts, latest issues, and trends, with opportunities to network and learn from others in the increasingly challenging and ever-changing industry of automotive. The 2023 Symposium is bringing to the stage auto industry game-changers on March 9, 2023, in Grand Rapids, Michigan! Meet the mainstage speakers below.

Symposium Presentations Available for Download

Please see the presentations below that we have been given permission by the presenters to make available to Symposium attendees to download. 

PMCF Presentation:
The Automotive Industry Transition and the Role of M&A

S&P Global Mobility Presentation:
Automotive Industry Outlook: Surviving and Thriving in a Time of Industry Transformation

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is a lifelong Michigander who is focused on getting things done that will make a real difference in people’s lives. As governor, she has signed over 900 bipartisan bills and four balanced, bipartisan budgets to deliver on the kitchen-table issues, grow the economy, and create good-paying jobs in every region of the state.

Since the governor took office, Michigan has announced 25,000 auto jobs, will fix 16,000 lane miles of road and 1,200 bridges by the end of 2022, and funded programs putting tens of thousands of people on tuition-free paths to higher education and skills training. She has worked across the aisle to empower Michigan’s economic development and brought critical supply chains home from China to Michigan.

The auto industry is in flux, with automakers and suppliers alike concentrating resources on multiple disruptive trends like digitalization, electrification, and autonomous driving. Further complicating the situation is a fragile, unstable business environment and ongoing labor shortage. 

The challenge for smaller, incumbent suppliers like Gentex is twofold:  

1. How can we remain relevant and help shape the future of mobility? 
2. How do we tackle today’s unique barriers to employment?  

Gentex’s strategy is to leverage our core competencies to cultivate emerging technologies that address the industry’s macro trends while also acting as innovation platforms for today’s vehicles. In short, we look to introduce features for today based on tomorrow’s emerging technology paths. 

In addition, we’re proactively addressing the labor shortage with impactful, innovative solutions that address three of our industry's greatest challenges: language, childcare, and transportation. 

Steve Downing

President & Chief Executive Officer, Gentex Corporation

Steve Downing joined Gentex in 2002 as a financial analyst, quickly moving on to senior financial analyst.  He then served in various roles on the Commercial Management team, including Director of Commercial Management, until his promotion in 2012 to Vice President of Commercial Management. In this role, Steve and his team were responsible for overseeing cost accounting, quotation development, forecasting, strategic partnerships, and new business development.

In May 2013, Steve was promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance while maintaining responsibility for all commercial management activities. In June 2015, Steve was promoted to Senior Vice President, with added responsibility for the Company’s business development and sales function.

In August of 2017, Steve was promoted to President, Chief Operating Officer, Interim Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. Then, on January 1, 2018, Steve was promoted to Chief Executive Officer.

Prior to joining Gentex, Steve worked for a private company executing activity-based costing, price modeling and control, and financial statement consolidation. He is a native of Ohio and graduated summa cum laude from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance.

Mark White

President and Chief Executive Officer, Shape Corp

Mark White is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Shape Corp. He has extensive international business experience, strategic growth/market development expertise, and operations management responsibilities. His 30+year career in the automotive industry began at Dow Chemical followed by General Electric Co. working in several commercial and product development positions. He joined Shape Corp. in 2000 as Vice President of NetShape International, a startup plastics venture affiliated with Shape. In 2008, Mark was promoted to Shape Corp. Vice President and Managing Director of European Operations and relocated to Frankfurt, Germany to lead the development of the European business. In 2011, he moved to Prague, Czech Republic to establish the manufacturing operations and European regional headquarters for Shape Corp. In 2013, he assumed the role of Executive Vice President and was responsible for leading all international business units and was a member of the executive leadership council advising the president on long-term company strategy. In October 2016, Mark was promoted to the role of President of Shape Corp. In February 2019, Mark assumed additional responsibilities and was elected President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Verplank Enterprise Board of Directors.

Mark received his BBA from Western Michigan University in 1992, before completing his MBA from Michigan State University in 2000. Mark’s executive education also includes extension programs at both the University of Chicago and the University of Minnesota.

Mark is involved in several industry associations and non-profit organizations. He is an active member of the General Motors and Nissan Motor Co. Executive Supplier Councils, a select group of supplier executives advising the OEMs on key industry topics. Mark is Co-chair for TalentFirst – a western Michigan-based CEO-led organization with the mission of advancing talent development foundations and regional economic development. Mark serves as a member of the Dean Advisory Board for the Seidman School of Business at Grand Valley State University. He volunteers his time as a board member for the non-profit No More Sidelines which leads program development and growth opportunities for youth with special needs. He also served four years as a board member on the Chamber of Commerce for Grand Haven, Spring Lake, and Ferrysburg, Michigan.

Mark and his wife Amy live in Norton Shores, Michigan. They have three daughters, Madeline who lives in Seattle, Washington, Caroline who lives in Park City, Utah, and Audrey who is a sophomore and cross country runner at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. In their free time, they enjoy downhill skiing, boating, hiking their dog Arely and traveling.

Thomas Manganello

Partner at Warner Norcross + Judd

With a strong focus on the automotive industry, Tom Manganello represents clients in supply chain contracting issues and matters between suppliers and car companies. Tom’s vast experience in the area includes automotive product liability and negligence trials, as well as compliance with NHTSA regulations. In addition to handling numerous product cases, Tom advocates for clients in commercial litigation in warranty, recall, and contract disputes. He also counsels manufacturing and industrial organizations in supply chain and commission sales disputes. 

Serving a client base of suppliers spanning many geographic areas — from Michigan, Kentucky, and South Carolina to Germany and Hong Kong — Tom helps organizations understand business challenges. These include both upstream obligations to their customer base to downstream commitments from their supply base. He guides them in navigating competing interests while furthering their own. Recent client concerns have included the imposition of steel tariffs and the drastic impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the supply chain. 

Tom continually studies both current and potential threats and opportunities affecting the auto industry from a supplier perspective. This enables him to best advise clients on how they can not only avoid problems but also work better with their own customers and supply base. Tom walks his clients through close examinations of all contracts to determine risks and take proactive steps to address these threats. 

Tom’s deep familiarity with the automotive industry dates back decades to when he worked in several different Detroit-area plants during college and law school. These jobs gave him a deep appreciation for the complexity of the supply chain and the amount of effort that goes into making any vehicle. 

Tom co-leads Warner’s Automotive Industry Group and heads the firm’s Autonomous and Connected Mobility subcommittee. He is the founder and past chairman of MICHauto, Michigan’s automotive industry cluster association. He is a board member and Secretary of The Automotive Hall of Fame. Past, 28-year Sustaining Member of PLAC, f/k/a the Product Liability Advisory Council.  

Ellen Clark

Managing Director, PMCF Investment Banking

Ellen Clark is a Managing Director of PMCF and co-leads the firm’s Industrials team. She has nearly 30 years of transaction advisory experience, having advised public and private companies on mergers, acquisitions, corporate carve-outs and divestitures, capital raising, and cross-border transactions. Her clients are primarily automotive and industrial companies and include automotive OEMs, suppliers, general industrial manufacturers, and related service providers. In total, Ellen has completed more than 100 transactions totaling more than $5.1 billion in value during her investment banking career.

Ellen was previously a Managing Director and one of the founding partners of Greenwich Capital Group. Here she focused on mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, and financial advisory. Prior to Greenwich Capital Group, Ellen was a Managing Director at Deloitte Corporate Finance, where she led the US Automotive group, was a leader of the Global Automotive team, and was the lead Managing Director of the Detroit office. She has authored numerous automotive M&A industry publications and is a frequent speaker at various industry events. Ellen serves on the Advisory Board for the Department of Finance at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University.

Ellen earned a BA with an emphasis in economics and management from Albion College and recently completed Deloitte’s Board Ready Women Program. She is a licensed securities representative holding her Series 7, 24, and 63 registrations.

Mike Wall

Executive Director of Automotive Analysis, S&P Global Mobility

Mike Wall serves as the Executive Director of Automotive Analysis at S&P Global Mobility.  He brings over 25 years of financial analysis, forecasting, consulting, and manufacturing experience to the firm, with a primary focus on assisting financial firms and manufacturers in their evaluation and understanding of the auto industry, as well as in-depth analysis of vehicle markets and trends.