Birmingham, Alabama, October 03, 2014 – SSOE Group (www.ssoe.com), a global engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) firm, is pleased to announce that SSOE Board Member Dennis Cuneo will moderate a panel discussion at the upcoming 2014 Southern Automotive Conference (SAC). The purpose of the panel, which will include two sitting governors and a senior auto industry executive, will be to discuss the findings of the Center for Automotive Research’s Study on the Southern Automotive Industry.
Cuneo, a former Toyota Senior Vice President, will moderate the Center for Automotive Research Plenary Session: “Accelerating the Growth of the U.S. Automotive Manufacturing Industry in the Southeast” featuring Governors Robert Bentley of Alabama and Phil Bryant of Mississippi on October 10, 2014. Other panelists include Chris Nielsen, Senior Vice President, Toyota Motor Manufacturing and Jay Baron, CEO of the Center for Automotive Research. Baron will start the session by revealing the results of the much anticipated Southern Automotive Research Alliance study by the Center for Automotive Research. Following, Cuneo will lead the group into the panel discussion.
This year’s SAC will focus on how the South is Geared for Growth and accelerating the global automotive industry by focusing on (1) improving operational excellence; (2) building the workforce and increasing product; and (3) process innovations. Senior executives from OEMs from across the Southeast will be in attendance to showcase their plants’ latest developments. Key elected officials from southern states will discuss maintaining and increasing the region’s competitive advantage. OEMs and suppliers will roll up their sleeves and talk about supplier best practices to ensure that, as an industry, the growing challenges of the global market are being met.
Dennis Cuneo, a partner in the national labor law firm Fisher & Phillips, LLP, and founder of the consulting firm, DC Strategic Advisors, LLC, was elected to serve a three year term on SSOE’s board, beginning December of 2012. Cuneo was formerly Senior Vice President of Toyota Motor North America and played a key role in the start-up and expansion of Toyota’s North American manufacturing operations during his 22 year tenure with the company. Since retiring from Toyota, Dennis has stayed engaged in the auto industry. He sits on the Boards of two major auto suppliers, AK Steel and BorgWarner, as well as the Center for Automotive Research. He was recently re-appointed to the Board of Trustees for Loyola University in New Orleans, sits on the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago’s Physical Sciences Division, and is a member of the National Advisory Board for Kent State’s College of Business Administration.
The conference will take place at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama on October 8-10, 2014. For more information on this conference, visit: http://aama.memberclicks.net/2014sac
