SME Biographies:
Steve Kiefer
Vice President – Global Powertrain
Steve Kiefer was appointed vice president of General Motors Global Powertrain on
September 1st, 2013. In his previous role, Steve was senior vice president of Delphi
and president of Powertrain Systems, a position he held since July 2011.
He began his career as a college cooperative student in General Motors North
American Car Group and spent several years in the GM Powertrain Division. Over
the course of his career, he served in a variety of engineering roles, including senior
project engineer at GM's Milford Proving Grounds, assistant staff engineer at
Delphi's Powertrain division in Luxembourg, and chief engineer - Asia Pacific in
Tokyo, Japan.
He returned to the United States and served as Delphi’s Powertrain’s director of
technology for engine management systems and business line executive for engine
management systems. From 2005 through 2011, Kiefer held several positions at
Delphi’s Thermal Division, including Managing Director of European Operations,
General Director of Engineering and Business Unit Head for Automotive, Residential
and Commercial HVAC.
Mr. Kiefer has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State
University, which also included engineering studies at RWTH in Aachen, Germany.
Additionally, Mr. Kiefer holds a master's degree in business administration from the
University of Michigan.
Mark Gilmore
Global Chief Engineer – DCT Transmissions
Mark is the Global Chief Engineer for DCT transmissions. In this role, he is
responsible for all of the design, development and testing of automatic
transmissions used by General Motors Worldwide that utilize Dual Clutch
Transmission (DCT) technology.
Mark has more than 34 years of experience with General Motors Powertrain
Engineering. While most of his time has been spent in leadership positions for
automatic transmissions programs, Mark also has spent many years leading manual
transmission programs and a few years leading a gasoline engine program. Part of
Mark’s experience was also directing GM’s automatic transmissions engineering
operations in Strasbourg, France.
Mark earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree in mechanical engineering from
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He currently resides in
Saline, Michigan.
Joseph (Zheng) Tan
Director, Powertrain Planning – GMIO and GM China
Joseph is the Director of Powertrain Planning for GM China and CIO Operations. He
is responsible for ensuring General Motor’s futures cars, trucks and crossover
vehicles that will be sold in China and CIO regions have the best engines,
transmissions and electrifications systems GM has to offer.
Joseph has been working in the powertrain planning area for almost 10 years,
including two years working on the dual clutch transmission program. Prior to that,
he was managing the development of truck business in GM China.
Joseph has a Bachelor degree in American Studies, and owns his Master’s of
Business Administration from Nanyang Technology University of Singapore. He
prides himself on being one of the “oldest” GM China local employees and having the
opportunity to witness the first Buick off the line of Shanghai General Motors 16
years ago. He currently resides in Shanghai, China.
Tom Sutter
Global Chief Engineer – Small Gas Engines
Tom Sutter is the Global Chief Engineer for GM’s Small Gas Engines. He is
responsible for the design and development of GM’s small displacement three and
four cylinder gasoline engines ranging in displacement from 1.0L to 1.5L.
Tom has been an engineer with General Motors for more than 30 years. He has
always worked on engine programs with 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 cylinder configurations. He
has been a Chief Engineer for 9 years on various engine programs.
Sutter earned his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Western Michigan
University and his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
Michigan. He currently resides in Oxford, Michigan.
Jonathon Kish
Lead Calibrator – 7T35
As a lead transmission calibrator, Jon and his team are responsible for controlling
when a vehicle shifts and how it feels to the driver and the passengers of the vehicle.
Prior to his current role, Jon worked with General Motors as a 4-speed automatic
transmission calibrator. He also has experience at Isuzu Motors America in
powertrain integration for commercial vehicles.
Kish earned his Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan
State University and his Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oakland
University. He currently resides in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Jens Wernecke
Director, Powertrain Line Executive – Shanghai General Motors
Jens is primarily responsible for the program management of all powertrain
projects, both engines and transmissions, at Shanghai General Motors.
Prior to his current role, Jens was the Chief Engineer and Regional Leader for
Powertrain Advanced Engineering at GMIO and also was the Program Manager and
Chief Engineer for dry-Dual Clutch Transmissions in Europe.
Wernecke holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Applied
Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel/Institute for Vehicle Manufacturing, Wolfsburg. He
grew up in Hohenhameln, Germany. Throughout his career he has had the
opportunity to live in several locations and countries, including Germany, England,
Italy and Shanghai, China, which is where he currently resides.
Wang Yongqiang
Powertrain Product PLE Executive Director – Shanghai GM
Mr. Wang Yongqiang has been appointed PT Product PLE Executive Director since
May 2012. Prior to this current role, he was the VLE Director of Midsize Platform at
Shanghai GM, responsible for vehicle development.
Mr. Wang Yongqiang has 18 years’ experience in automotive industry. He worked
with Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center as the Project Senior Manager for over
10 years.
Mr. Wang Yongqiang got his Bachelor degree in Automotive Engineering from Tong
Ji University. He currently resides in Shanghai, China.
Kendell Fulton
Assistant Chief Engineer
Kendell Fulton is the Assistant Chief Engineer for GM’s Small Gas Engine program.
He is primarily responsible for managing the turbo engines in the SGE program,
including the design, validation, analysis and calibration. Kendell is also the
management interface between the vehicle platforms that utilize the SGE engines.
Kendell has more than 29 years of automotive and engine experience. He began his
career with General Motors in 1990 and has since worked as a validation and
development engineer, design release engineer, calibration engineer, design
systems engineer and engine group manager.
Kendell graduated from Lakehead University in Canada with a Mechanical
Engineering degree. He was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario and currently
resides in Clarkston, Michigan.