Leadership
David J. Stenson (Dave) Founder & President
A native of the Detroit area, Stenson graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from the cooperative college education program of General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) with co-op work terms in General Motors’ Advanced Engineering Staff.He also received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1990.
Stenson had numerous technical and business assignments over a 29-year career with General Motors concentrated in Product Development, Engineering and Program Management.His first executive roles were Vehicle Line Executive, Trucks, for GM de Mexico; Director of Validation Process and Director, Advanced Product Development Quality.In mid-2002, Stenson became Vehicle Line Director for the Pontiac Solstice to convert the concept car into a production program.He was then promoted to Chief Engineer, GM de Mexico based in Toluca.
After this second assignment in Mexico, Stenson was appointed Executive Director of Global Engineering Design and Release, responsible for GM’s Computer Aided Design systems and production Bills of Material (BOMs).He became Executive Director of GM Performance Division in late 2008 and Chief Technical Officer of HUMMER in April 2009 with the intent to assist in the brand spin-off.
Upon GM’s decision to wind-down (and not sell) the HUMMER brand, Stenson left General Motors in April 2010 to pursue other opportunities.His first such opportunity landed Dave running the start-up Transportation Division of Raser Technologies focused on implementing extended-range electric propulsion on light duty trucks for commercial fleets.He elected to leave Raser in November 2010 in advance of their spin-off into VIA Motors.
Stenson has been a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and The Engineering Society of Detroit for over 25 years.He was a long-standing member of the Harvard Business School University Relations Team for General Motors and previously served as President of the Kettering University/GMI Alumni Association.Dave is married with two young children and resides in metropolitan Detroit.
dave@newmotoradvisors.com
mobile: +1.248.535.0477
Lincoln McGhee Vice President, Program Management
An auto executive with over 35 years of experience in Program Management, Product Engineering and Finance.During his last 12 years in Program Management, he was recognized for successfully leading the development and implementation of GM’s Global Vehicle Development Process (GVDP) as well as numerous Program Management processes across all General Motors locations, globally.This included working with large complex organizations such as GM North America as well as simpler, more streamlined regions such as Brazil and China.
As the Corporate champion for the GVDP, Lincoln led numerous initiatives to reduce lead time and improve organizational capability.This has resulted in a 21% lead time reduction for GM, while concurrently making all regions capable of executing the GVDP.The benefit to GM has been lower product development structural costs and faster, on-time introduction of award winning, high quality vehicles.
Lincoln was also responsible for enhancing the Program Management Work Structure and Program Review Templates used by Program Teams globally; creating the Review and Approval Forums guiding document; leading the development of two multimillion dollar Program Management IT Systems; and supporting the Global Metrics Initiative to drive transparency and objective reporting across all functions and regions.
In 2009, Lincoln retired from the position of global Director of Program Management Processes and Operations and has subsequently launched Lincoln McGhee Consulting, LLC, an automotive program management consulting company.He recently completed consulting work for a Chinese OEM and a Tier 1 supplier and has developed contacts working with major OEM’s and engineering service organizations in China and India.
Lincoln McGhee holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from GMI/Kettering University, where he earned the graduation distinction of Sobey Scholar and an MBA in Finance with a minor in Policy and Control from the University of Michigan.
Albert J. Steurer (Al) Vice President, Product and Manufacturing Planning
Al graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree from the cooperative college education program of General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) with experience in manufacturing at the Linden N.J. Assembly plant.He received his MBA from Central Michigan University.
Al’s career spanned 39 years at General Motors with 25 years focused in manufacturing and 14 years in product development.He has also had diverse international career experience with a total of 10 years spent outside the U.S. in Mexico, Sweden and Italy.Early in his career Al worked in manufacturing at 3 assembly plants and as a manufacturing engineer on GM’s first electric vehicle program.His first executive assignment was as the Director of Program Management & Planning for the Chevrolet-Pontiac-GM Canada Group.He subsequently was promoted as the Director of Manufacturing Planning where he led efforts to optimize GM’s assembly plant footprint.
In 2000 Al returned for a second stint in GM de Mexico as the subsidiary’s Director of Planning.In this new role Al was responsible for local program management of several car and truck lines, as well as ensuring a competitive product portfolio of imported products to sustain GM’s market leadership in Mexico.
Al moved to Europe in 2004 where he was appointed the Director of Planning for Saab in Sweden.At Saab he led the future development of their portfolio of products by synthesizing regulatory, customer and competitive global requirements.Following a reorganization of Saab he was assigned Powertrain Planning Director for the Fiat-GM partnership in Turin, Italy.He worked on unwinding the partnership with GM and helped lead the formation of the new GM Powertrain Europe organization with its diesel expertise centered in Italy.While there, Al was responsible for supporting the mission of “World’s Best Powertrains” by satisfying competitive, regulatory and business needs of its future portfolio and vehicle applications.
In 2007 Al repatriated to the U.S. as the Director of North America Powertrain Planning.Prior to his retirement in October 2009, Al represented Powertrain in the transition from bankruptcy to rebirth of the General Motors Company.