Meet Our First Confirmed Keynote Speakers!
Linda Zhang
F-150 Chief Nameplate Engineer, Ford Motor Company
Title: “From Concept to Road: The F150 Lightning Story,”
Linda Zhang is responsible for leading the team delivering Ford’s first ever all-electric F-150 pickup. Zhang, who has been with Ford for nearly 25 years, joined the company after graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and moving into the Ford College Graduate program.
From there, she worked in manufacturing, product development, finance and corporate strategy, gathering business fundamentals that would serve her well as she worked on programs like Ford Explorer, Escape, Kuga and F-150. “The all-electric F-150 program”, she said, “has been particularly fulfilling” – because of her background in electrification and the truck’s prominent position in the Ford portfolio.
To learn more about Linda Zhang check out these links:
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2022/01/07/meet-the-woman-behind-fords-all-electric-f-150-lightning-pursue-what-you-love/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2D5ewD41lk
Deepak Divan
Title: “Grid as an Ecosystem“
Deepak Divan does research in the areas of power electronics, power systems, smart grids, and distributed control of power systems. He works closely with utilities and industry and is actively involved in research, teaching and entrepreneurship. Dr. Divanhas founded or seeded several companies, including Varentec in Santa Clara, CA, which was funded by leading green-tech Venture Capital firm Khosla Ventures and renowned investor Bill Gates, as well as Soft Switching Technologies, Innovolt and Smart Wires, which together have raised >$160M in venture funding. Dr. Divan is an elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, member of the National Academies Board on Energy and Environmental Systems and NASEM Committee on the Future Grid. He a Fellow of the IEEE, past President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, is a recipient of the IEEE William E Newell Field Medal and is Chair of the IEEE Empower a Billion Lives global competition to develop scalable energy access solutions.
Ryan Shaw
Manager, Advanced Engineering,
Power Systems and Advanced Functions, NA Magna International Inc.
Ryan Shaw, was named manager of North American Advanced Engineering in July 2020. In this role, Shaw is responsible for the development of new technologies related to propulsion and driveline systems for automotive products in the North American market. He and his team are
focused on providing innovative yet practical solutions to vehicle electrification for the current and future market. Most recently, he has been responsible for developing electrified beam axle drives within Magna. These products offer a drop in solution for customers looking to electrify
trucks, SUVs, and commercial vehicles.
Shaw has held various roles within engineering throughout his career, progressing from an intern to Senior Systems Engineer before entering his current management role. His prior positions had a strong focus on system-level engineering, starting in the traditional automotive market and then transitioning to electrification. Shaw has more than 10 years of experience in the automotive industry and holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology, with a focus on automotive systems.
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Prith Banerjee
Chief Technology Officer, ANSYS
Title: “Future of Simulation-Based Product Innovation”
Prith Banerjee, is Chief Technology Officer at ANSYS, a leader in engineering simulation. Prior to that, he was CTO of Schneider Electric, CTO of ABB, Managing Director of R&D at Accenture, and Director of HP Labs. Previously he spent 20 years in academia as Professor, Chairman and Dean at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University.
He is the founder of two software startup companies, Accelchip and Binachip. Banerjee currently serves on the Board of Directors of Turntide Technologies. In the past, he has served on the Board of Cray, CUBIC. and Anita Borg Institute, and the Technical Advisory Boards of Ambit, Atrenta , Calypto, Cypress, Ingram Micro, and Virsec. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, ACM and IEEE. He was listed in the FastCompany list of 100 top business leaders in 2009. He received a B.Tech. in electronics engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana.
To learn more about Prith Banerjee check out this link:
Tim Grewe
General Director of Electrification Strategy & “Ultium Everywhere” for General Motors.
“Ultium Everywhere” expands GM portfolio into locomotive, aerospace, and secondary use.
Title: “GM’s Ultium Architecture Today and Tomorrow“
Tim Grewe, has a BSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as well as a MSEE from Syracuse University. He started his career with General Electric developing distributed power systems for aircraft, rail, off road & heavy-duty transportation. Tim joined GM as Chief Engineer for the Allison Hybrid City Bus.
His teams have launched multiple generations of GM electric propulsion systems including the Ultium platform. Recent examples
include the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Tim is the holder of numerous patents and is active in the electrification industry.