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• March 25 - Philip Nussel, Editor, Automotive News (Retired)

  • When
    25-Mar-2026
  •  
    9:45 AM - 12:30 PM
  • Location
    ZOOM ONLY

  Philip "Phil" Nussel is a retired automotive and business journalist known for his long tenure as an editor at Automotive News and Crain's Detroit Business. During his career, he managed news coverage, supervised staff, and held various editing roles, including online editor for Automotive News and chief assigning editor for Crain's. He is a University of Michigan alumnus and a native of Toledo, Ohio.

  Career: Nussel had a multi-decade career as a business journalist, with significant editing roles at major Detroit publications. At Automotive News, Phil was the online editor for Automotive News and previously joined as industry editor in 2005, overseeing coverage of suppliers, technology, and manufacturing. At Crain's Detroit Business, he served as the chief assigning editor for seven years, overseeing all news coverage and supervising editors and reporters. His career also included positions at The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press.

  Personal: He is an alumnus of the University of Michigan and a native of Toledo, Ohio. His interests include golf, tennis, and playing the banjo.

  
  

  AGENDA

   9:45 AM –  Zoom Opens -- Login so you will be ready for the start

  10:00 AM – Gene Nelson -- Introductory  Comments

  10:15  AM – Participant Polling Exercise

  10:30  AM – Phil Nussel Presentation and Q&A

  11:30  AM – Meeting Debrief & New Website Discussion and Q&A

  12:30  PM – ZOOM Closes

  
  

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• April 24 - Franziska (Fran) Bell, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer

  • When
    24-Apr-2026
  •  
    10:30 AM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    Dearborn Country Club
  • Registered
    1 registrant

  Dr. Franziska "Fran" Bell is Ford’s Chief Digital & Artificial Intelligence (AI) Officer. Known for her cross-industry experience and expertise in scaling artificial intelligence (AI) and data platforms, she has led major AI teams at companies spanning the automotive, energy, and tech sectors.

  Appointed to her position at Ford in January 2025, Dr. Bell is responsible for leading the company's enterprise-wide efforts to leverage data and AI. In this role, she focuses on:

  • Driving business value: Bell's work is centered on partnering with the business to generate tangible value at scale.
  • Improving user experiences: She guides her teams to use data and AI to enhance the overall customer experience.
  • Developing human-AI teams: She advocates for a collaborative approach where AI and data are used to augment human ingenuity, automating repetitive tasks to allow engineers and designers to focus on strategic thinking and innovation.

  Before joining Ford, she served as Chief Technology Officer at BP, where she was responsible for a global organization of over 4,000 people. Her mandates included software engineering, data, AI, analytics, and design across the company. As the head of Data Science Platforms at Uber, she founded and led multiple data science teams. Her work involved applying machine learning to improve a range of products and services, including system anomaly detection, forecasting, and customer support. At Toyota Research Institute (TRI) she directed AI research focused on advancing materials science and machine-assisted cognition.  Dr. Bell conducted postdoctoral research in approximate quantum dynamics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She earned her doctorate in theoretical chemistry from the University of California, and also a degree from the University of York, where she gravitated toward computational chemistry.

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• May 27 - Sherry House, Chief Financial Officer

  • When
    27-May-2026
  •  
    10:30 AM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    Dearborn Country Club

  As Chief Financial Officer for Ford Motor Company, House has overall responsibility for Ford’s Finance functions, including Accounting, Financial Planning and Analysis, Treasury, Tax, Investor Relations, Economics, and Audit, as well as the Ford Credit business. 

  Previously, as Vice President, Finance for Ford from June 2024 to February 2025, House oversaw financial planning and analysis as well as the finance organizations for Ford’s customer-focused business segments: Ford Blue, Ford Pro and Ford Model e. 

  Before joining Ford, House was CFO at Lucid Motors from 2020 to 2023, a period in which the company went public, started producing and delivering luxury electric vehicles, and opened manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Prior to Lucid, House held several senior leadership positions at autonomous driving technology company, Waymo, including separate turns as treasurer, head of investor relations, corporate development and corporate finance.

  House spent a decade working in venture capital, private equity and investment banking. She had two tenures at General Motors, first in product engineering, then in corporate development and strategy, accounting, venture capital and business planning and analysis. 

  House holds master’s degrees in business administration and manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan, and Bachelor of Science degrees in mechanical and industrial engineering from Kettering University. In 2022, she was named an Industry Influencer by the Automotive Hall of Fame.

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