Speaker Biography
1998 Foresight/IMM/CCIT Senior Associates Gathering
Robert M. Santer
Bob Santer has held a number of interesting positions in his twenty one
years as an aerospace/defense engineering professional, automotive
engineer/designer, management professional and analyst. Today, Santer is
pursuing future technology trends and their potential impact on the Ford
Motor Company and overall automotive industry.
Currently, Santer is Chief Product Analyst for Technology Planning and
Support within Ford's Advanced Vehicle Technology organization. This
activity is responsible for helping manage Ford's Research and
Development function, ranked #2 in the United States for total spending
in pure and applied R & D.
Aware of the potential effect that revolutionary, as well as
evolutionary, technology can have on all aspects of automotive design,
production and application, Santer consults a broad range of
intelligence sources for early warning indicators of technology impacts.
His broad background in engineering and the base sciences, as well as
the application aspects of technology interface, make his efforts a
widely cross functional endeavor. He is also part of several teams
within Ford, assessing new technology communication impacts within large
organizations, and the applications of futuring methodologies to needs
based segmentation.
From 1991 to 1996, Santer was Studio Engineering Supervisor for multiple
production vehicle programs, leading diverse cross functional teams from
vehicle concept to production-ready status. Additionally, throughout the
1980's, Santer helped to establish, develop and apply the concept of
aerodynamic design to Ford Motor's entire vehicle lineup, including drag
reduction for fuel economy, lift management for improved handling,
cooling airflow management and acoustic development for reduced
windnoise. The concepts and equipment developed by Santer still provide
the basis for automotive aerodynamic development today. Prior to his
coming to Ford, Santer was design and liaison engineer for the prototype
and production F/A18 Hornet, F15 Eagle, and AV8B Harrier fighter
aircraft programs.
Some other details of his career include:
- Currently a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Management at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Santer holds a Bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering and a Master's in Engineering Management, both from the University of Michigan.
- Experienced as a professional engineer and supervisor in research, planning, purchasing, engineering, manufacturing and other more specialized areas. Includes directing a variety of research scientists/staff in advanced automotive technology areas. International design and production experience in Asia.
- National speaker on a variety of automotive engineering issues to professional, business and university groups. Past consultant to university and industry groups in automotive related subjects.
- Commercially and privately traveled
|