Board and Officers

PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
Graham Smethurst
General Manager, Infotainment and Communication Systems
BMW Group

Graham began his career in telecommunications, transferring to the automotive industry in 1989. During 11 years with Rover Group in the UK he was responsible for the successful delivery of many diverse projects ranging from embedded electronics to information technology solutions for vehicle diagnostics and electronic system design. From March 1998 to 2000 he was Head of Vehicle Information Systems at Rover Group. Following the sale of Rover by BMW Group in 2000 he transferred to BMW A.G in Munich to lead the development of the Car Communication Computer launched in the 5 series in 2003. Between 2003 and 2006 he led the team that defined the infotainment system launched in the new 7 series in 2008. Over the last 2 years he has been the BMW Group representative in an industry collaboration investigating the feasibility of alternative approaches to the delivery of automotive infotainment solutions. The target of the collaboration being a method to ensure the sustainable delivery of consumer based infotainment functionality within the technical and commercial constraints of the automotive industry.

VICE-PRESIDENT Alexander Kocher General Manager Automotive Solutions Wind River

Alex began his career in industrial automation, telecommunications and semiconductors transferring to the automotive industry in January 2001. During 21 years with Siemens AG and affiliated companies in Germany he was responsible for the successful delivery of many diverse projects in various industries ranging from industrial control units, video phones, semiconductors for automotive and industrial solutions to in-vehicle-infotainment systems. From Jan 2002 to June 2008 he was heading in-vehicle-infotainment platform development and navigation solution development within Siemens VDO acquired by Continental AG in 2007. During that time he successfully launched the Car Communication Computer platform for BMW as well as the platform and the navigation solution for the Radio Navigation System Mid for VW Group. He joined Wind River in July 2008 to leverage Wind River's Linux experience in other industries for the IVI development in automotive industry.

TREASURER
Michael J. Melaragni
Director - Global Software and Controls Engineering
General Motors Corporation

Michael Melaragni is the Director of Global Software and Controls Engineering for General Motors Corporation. He joined General Motors in 1992 as an associate engineer working at the Cadillac/Luxury Car Division. After various positions in electrical engineering he was appointed Engineering Group Manager for Powertrain Vehicle/Infrastructure Software in 2003. In 2007 he became Senior Manager for Electronics Engineering in the Powertrain Division. He was promoted to his current role in Global Electrical Systems, Controls, and Software Engineering in 2008.

Michael earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute) and Master of Science degree in Engineering from Purdue University.

SECRETARY Kyle Walworth Sr Manager, Global Audio/Infotainment Architectures Visteon

As senior manager of global infotainment architectures for Visteon Corporation, Kyle Walworth is responsible for the electrical designs of multiple product lines, including infotainment head units, connectivity modules, analog/digital radios and amplifier systems. Walworth also manages the development of all infotainment-related subsystems including tuner, media and telematics. His background and experience provides a unique perspective on the complex electro-mechanical interactions in today's consumer electronic products.

Walworth has nearly 20 years of experience in automotive engineering/management. Prior to his current position, Walworth managed Visteon's electrical, mechanical and software design teams in the U.S., Mexico, China and India for the development of a radio head unit. He also led Visteon's core wireless function, a group responsible for integrating technologies such as 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth®-enabled functionality.

Before joining Visteon, Walworth worked for Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. At Ford, Walworth held positions in product development focusing on electric vehicle power supplies and interior electronics. At GM, he worked in product development for cruise controls, instrument clusters, mass airflow sensors, throttle bodies and exhaust systems.

Walworth holds bachelor degrees in both mechanical and electrical engineering from GMI Engineering and Management Institute (known today as Kettering University). He also earned a master's degree in electrical engineering - with a concentration in wireless and electro-magnetics - from Stanford University.

Visteon Corporation is a leading global automotive supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative climate, interior, electronic and lighting products for vehicle manufacturers, and also provides a range of products and services to aftermarket customers. With corporate offices in Van Buren Township, Mich. (U.S.); Shanghai, China; and Kerpen, Germany; the company has facilities in 27 countries and employs approximately 33,500 people.

BOARD MEMBER Joel Andrew Hoffmann Strategic Market Development Manager, In-Vehicle Infotainment Group, Intel

Joel Andrew Hoffmann is the Strategic Market Development Manager for Intel’s In-Vehicle Infotainment Group. In this capacity, he leads automotive market developments in wireless networking and enterprise IT solutions. He is also responsible for driving the infotainment group toward a common vision, which includes spearheading Intel’s support of GENIVI, a cross-industry consortium of companies with the goal to accelerate adoption of entertainment, navigation and communication services in automobiles. Within GENIVI, Hoffmann promotes community support for translating open source innovation into commercial solutions adopted by automakers, suppliers and a growing infotainment ecosystem.

Since joining Intel Corporation in 2000, Hoffmann has been instrumental in establishing an early incubation of connected vehicles for DaimlerChrysler, now Chrysler, by promoting standards-based software and hardware alignment. He also helped institute the first automotive high performance computing cluster which reduced the auto company’s costs substantially.

With a background of sales and technical experience in automotive, telecommunications and consumer electronics, Hoffmann has previously created business plans for the Michigan Connected Vehicle Proving Center, developed marketing strategies for Skyway Systems, now Inilex, and holds a board seat in the Connected Vehicle Trade Association on Intel’s behalf.

BOARD MEMBER Doug Welk Group Manager, Connected Vehicle Technologies & Applications Delphi

Doug Welk has over 20 years of experience developing advanced automotive infotainment technologies for the Delco Electronics division of General Motors and the Electronics and Safety division of Delphi. His particular area of focus has been the development of systems and software for vehicle-based navigation and data communications. Past projects have included the development of Radio Data System (RDS) receivers, GPS-based vehicle navigation systems, vehicle data busses, and complete infotainment systems based on high-speed fiber optic data busses.

In his current assignment, Doug leads a dynamic team of engineers responsible for the early development of connected vehicle technologies and applications. This team focuses on the development of technologies and capability for delivery of audio, video and data services to the vehicle over broadband wireless networks. Most recently this has included Delphi's participation in the U.S. Department of Transportation's Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) proof of concept demonstration and also the development of software platforms based on Linux and other open-source software.

Mr. Welk holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (1987) and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, also from Purdue University (1988).

BOARD MEMBER Giuseppe Faranda Cordella Product Management Director, Electronic Systems Infotainment & Navigation Magneti Marelli

Giuseppe Faranda Cordella is responsible for Infotainment and Navigation product management in the Magneti Marelli Electronic Systems Business Line, and formerly he covered the role of Strategic Innovation Director in the same business line. He has been involved in the design and development of IVI systems for the last 10 years. Before joining Magneti Marelli, he was responsible for the development of Telematic architecture for systems and services at a private Research Centre. He has also been involved in the management of international standardization committees on Telecommunication and Telematic systems. He has a Computer Science degree from University of Turin.

BOARD MEMBER Gerulf Kinkelin Innovation Area Manager for Electricity, Electronics and Telematics PSA Peugeot Citroën

Gerulf Kinkelin joined PSA Peugeot Citroën in 2006 as Innovation Area Manager for Electricity, Electronics and Telematics. As the representative of PSA at the AUTOSAR industrial partnership Steering Committee, G. Kinkelin will be the spokesperson of AUTOSAR from October 2008. After graduating from Ecole Polytechnique and Institute of Political Studies, Paris, he served as a telecommunications engineer in the French defense procurement agency, then in the government agency addressing technical regulation for the media (radio, TV). Before joining PSA, he worked at Matra Nortel in the telecommunications industry as provider of professional mobile networks for public safety agencies. One of his first tasks was to start the French police radio network for the soccer worldcup Mondial 98. He then worked in the defense electronics area at Thales to develop large network centric systems. His background and experience is electronics, systems, industrial and international cooperation.