CHARLES G. MCCLURE | The National Summit

CHARLES G. MCCLURE
Chairman of the Board, CEO & President
ArvinMeritor, Inc.

Charles G. “Chip” McClure is chairman of the Board, CEO and president of ArvinMeritor, Inc. McClure, who has more than 25 years of diverse leadership experience in the motor vehicle industry.

Prior to joining ArvinMeritor, McClure served as CEO, president and was a member of the board of Federal Mogul Corp., a global supplier of automotive components. McClure joined Federal-Mogul in 2001 as president, COO and a member of the Board. He was promoted to CEO in July 2003. As the leader of Federal-Mogul’s $5.5 billion global business, McClure helped drive significant improvements in business results, strengthened customer relationships and developed strategic plans to enhance the company’s competitiveness. He was also instrumental in creating an aggressive plan to resolve challenging issues related to the company’s reorganization and planned emergence from Chapter 11.

Prior to joining Federal-Mogul, McClure served as president, CEO and a member of the Board of Detroit Diesel, a major designer and manufacturer of diesel engines and related products. He joined Detroit Diesel in 1997, after 14 years in a variety of management positions with Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee-based global automotive supplier. In his last role with Johnson Controls, McClure served as president of the company’s Americas region, with management responsibility for a $3 billion group of 50 manufacturing plants. Before that, he was vice president and managing director of the Johnson Control’s $1 billion European operations. McClure also served as vice president and general manager of the company’s joint venture activities, as well as its business with Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp.

From 1983 to 1985, McClure worked at Hoover Universal, which was acquired by Johnson Controls in 1985. He was operations director of material handling products for the newly formed business. Before that, McClure spent four years at Ford as a heavy-duty truck sales engineer and field service engineer. From 1975 until 1979, he served as a lieutenant (jg) on a U.S. Navy destroyer.

With a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan, McClure also holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. He is a member of the Business Roundtable, and is active on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, R.L. Polk and Company, Detroit Renaissance, Horizons Upward Bound and the Detroit Investment Fund. In addition, he is a member of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP). McClure also serves on the executive committee of A World in Motion, an SAE Foundation that focuses on science education.

ArvinMeritor, Inc. is a premier global supplier of a broad range of integrated systems, modules and components to the motor vehicle industry. The company serves light vehicle, commercial truck, trailer and specialty original equipment manufacturers and certain aftermarkets.

Panelist Perspective

Mr. McClure will serve as a panelist for the “Competitiveness in Manufacturing” Town Hall for the Manufacturing Discipline.

Somewhere in the discussion of restoring this country’s economic vitality, “manufacturing” has become a dirty word. It’s the culmination of a misguided vision that a country can find long-term growth and prosperity through service-based industries. Marketing, sales, distribution and customer-service are key industry sectors in America, but they are based on our ability to produce and build products. Manufacturing is technology, technology is innovation and innovation is growth. Last year alone that integrated chain of events created $1.6 trillion in wealth in the U.S.
There is no more critical time in our history than now to support manufacturing as the cornerstone of our global position as a technological leader. The United States should actively seek the role of an international hub of manufacturing, providing the resources, talent and policies that will earn us a reputation among foreign industry as a manufacturing friendly country.

We need to support policies that cement our competitive advantage including upgrading our infrastructure, creating a corporate tax policy that doesn’t penalize U.S. based international corporations, labor policies that do not create added burdens on business, and trade policies that allow for a fair and level playing field for U.S. goods and services. With the right policies in place, U.S. manufacturers can carry on the legacy of innovation and technology that have led the world to a higher standard of living.