GM Executives Inspire Future Engineers at PACE Annual Forum

I’m not sure who leaves student competitions with more insight – the future engineers or the industry executives. Last week at the PACE Annual Forum, the students were definitely excited to learn directly from leaders at companies like GM on the future of mobility, design and  global product development.

Yet the industry executives seem equally impressed to learn what future automotive engineers had developed for PACE’s Personal Assisted Mobility Device (PAMD) competition – and consider the implications of that R&D on future mobility possibilities. The theme for this year’s forum was “Smart in the City: Sustainable and Interconnected Mobility.“

I interviewed two GM executives on their presentations and experience at the forum.

Ken Kelzer is vice president of Global Vehicle Components and Subsystems and presented on “Innovating the Future of Mobility and Collaborative Product Development”. He emphasized how fast personal transportation is changing and why GM’s future planners are preparing for even more global collaboration in the future. He also noted how critical math data is – since everyone in an enterprise uses it.



Kurt Wiese is vice president of Global Manufacturing Engineering and presented on Collaborative Product Development & Manufacturing. He shared the importance of collaboration and continuous improvement across an organization.



Stay tuned for more outtakes from the PACE Annual Forum.

– Dora