The American Center for Mobility has appointed Michael Noblett as President and CEO taking over from Interim CEO Kirk Steudle, who held the role in an unpaid capacity since the middle of last year.
They say Noblett will oversee the strategic direction of the award-winning proving grounds and work with the board of directors to accelerate the Center’s development.
As Noblett manages the strategy and overall direction for ACM, day-to-day operational tasks have been assigned to Mark Chaput, who was recently promoted to chief operating officer from vice president of operations and construction. Jeff Rupp, who joined the team in May 2018, and serves as chief technical officer as well as chief safety officer.
“The board believes Michael Noblett is the ideal leader for ACM as it transitions from a start-up into a mature organisation,” said Doug Rothwell, president and CEO, Business Leaders for Michigan and chair of the ACM board of directors. “Michael, along with Mark Chaput and Jeff Rupp, give us a leadership team that will solidify ACM’s position as a world-class test facility and resource for advanced technology research.”
Since opening, additional infrastructure has been added to the more than 500-acre site, including two state-of-the-art garages housing 13 vehicle and commercial truck bays, two new testing environments and a corridor designed to replicate bicycle and pedestrian traffic. In September 2018, ACM was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy grant to examine fuel-efficient platooning in mixed traffic highway environments, communication systems reliability in adverse weather scenarios and validate simulation models. The proposed scope of the study has not been attempted before; if completed successfully, it will be the first of its kind in the nation. ACM is also collaborating with its 23-member Academic Consortium to convene additional technical training programs, as well as coordinating efforts to develop a new research study on workforce development trends.
“The interest from industry and demand for greater programming at ACM hasn’t slowed since the doors opened in December 2017,” said Kirk Steudle, interim CEO, ACM. “As ACM moves into this new phase, I am confident Michael is the right leader to ensure forward movement and growth in the years to come.”
Noblett joins the ACM team from Intel, where he served as the global segment lead of automotive industry sales. He is internationally recognised as an expert in automotive electronics and wireless communications and is a leader in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industry having helped pioneer multinational activities to advance connected vehicle technologies, advanced safety transportation systems and location-based service delivery.
