CAR appoints board chair, welcomes 3 board members

The Center for Automotive Research has a new board chair. James Jacobs stepped into the board chair position Sept. 21, taking over for Neil de Koker, who retired from the position after having served as the board's first external chair.

Three new board members also were welcomed recently: John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation; Ed Knapp, corporate chief technology officer for American Tower; and Michael Putz, president and CEO at Peterson American Corp.

Jacobs was president of Macomb Community College from 2008-17 and now is the college's president emeritus. Before serving as college president, he concurrently worked as the director for the Center for Workforce Development and Policy at the college, and as associate director of Community College Research Center at the Teachers College of Columbia University, where he currently serves as a member of the board of directors.

Among Jacobs' areas of specialization are workforce skills and technology, economic development, worker retraining and community college workforce development, and he is widely published in these areas of expertise.

Bozzella served as president and CEO if the Association for Global Automakers, a trade association whose members include auto and light-duty truck makers with operations and sales in the U.S. He held this position from 2014-20, when the Alliance for Automotive Innovation—known as Auto Innovators—was established.

His background also includes working as senior operating executive for Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company L.L.C., where he worked with the firm and its portfolio companies on a range of public policy and economic development matters. He was senior vice president of external affairs and public policy at Chrysler Group in 2009, and vice president of external affairs and public policy for Chrysler L.L.C. from 2007-09.

During his time at Chrysler, Bozzella worked closely with the federal government and fellow auto makers on an advanced technology vehicle loan program and on the development of new fuel economy standards. He also worked with state governments to gain funding for restructuring, training, and development.

Knapp, as corporate CTO for American Tower, leads the company's global innovation program, technology investments and strategy. Prior to joining the company in 2017, he was the senior vice president of engineering at Qualcomm, where he was responsible for their New Jersey Corporate Research Center and managed a diverse engineering team with researchers and product engineering staff across India, Israel and the U.S.

His professional experience spans more than 30 years in the global wireless industry from 1G to 5G, and includes senior leadership roles at three start-ups. His work has received five U.S. patents and one pending patent application.

Prior to joining PAC, he was president and chief financial officer of Alco Manufacturing, and spent eight years with MPI Products, where he was chief operating officer and CFO.