David E. Cole is Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) and a management partner at the Altarum Institute. He was formerly director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT) at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. He has worked extensively on internal combustion engines, vehicle design, and overall automotive industry trends. Cole received his B.S.M.E., M.S.M.E. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Cole's recent research has focused on strategic issues related to the restructuring of the North American industry and trends in globalization, technology, market factors, and human resource requirements. He was formerly a member of the Energy Engineering Board of the National Research Council and the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Pact Select Panel. Cole is a director of the Automotive Hall of Fame and is on the board of trustees of Hope College. He also is a director of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association and Digital Detroit, as well as a director of six automotive supplier companies.
Cole is active in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), including serving two terms on the board of directors. In February 1986, he was named a fellow of SAE. He also is active in the Engineering Society of Detroit and was elected to fellow status in 1990.
In 2000, Cole received the Engineering Society’s highest award, the Horace H. Rackham medal, and in 1999, the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit from France. Cole was named Marketing Educator of the Year by the Society of Marketing Executives in 1998, and received the Rene Dubos Environmental Award for his contributions to the industrial ecology of the automobile. He was named one of eight engineering leaders in 1994 by Design News, and was selected to receive Sweden's Order of the Polar Star. In 1993, he received the National Automobile Dealers Association Foundation's International Freedom of Mobility Award.
Cole also has been actively involved in the start-up of five different Ann Arbor-based companies. His technical and policy consulting experience includes a variety of assignments for industry, labor, and government.