NCMS President & CEO Richard Pearson Honored by Automation Alley

Richard Pearson Named Finalist for CEO of the Year Award

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 25 -- The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is pleased to announce that President & CEO Richard Pearson is a finalist for the CEO of the Year Award presented by Automation Alley.

The CEO of the Year Award recognizes an individual who inspires their employees and has made a positive impact on Southeast Michigan's technology community. Automation Alley is an organization consisting of leaders from technology, academia, manufacturing, engineering, production, and R&D who are dedicated to making Southeast Michigan a technology powerhouse.

"NCMS is fortunate to have a man of Richard Pearson's leadership ability," said NCMS Chairman Richard Morley. "His years of practical R&D experience and astute management instincts have sparked a remarkable resurgence at NCMS."

Before NCMS, Mr. Pearson had a long career with Ford Motor Company. He began as a draftsman while attending college, eventually becoming Manager of Technology Integration for the Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Division. His office was responsible for Factory of the Future programs and for leading a process of worldwide manufacturing forums to benchmark best practices, develop and test advanced manufacturing methods and create strategies to improve Ford's manufacturing competitiveness.

Mr. Pearson holds a B.S. from San Jose State University, an M.B.A. degree from Michigan State University, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan Executive Program.

The CEO of the Year Award will be presented at the 2004 Automation Alley Award Gala held on September 10 at the Detroit Science Center.

About NCMS

NCMS is the largest cross-industry collaborative research and development consortium in North America, and is the only consortial effort in the U.S. devoted exclusively to manufacturing technologies, processes and practices. NCMS has more than 18 years of experience in the formation and management of complex, multi-partner collaborative R&D programs, and is backed by corporate members representing virtually every manufacturing sector.

For more information, email customercare@ncms.org or visit http://www.ncms.org/

About Automation Alley

Automation Alley is Southeast Michigan's regional technology cluster, attracting the creators and consumers of diverse technologies from a variety of industries around the world. The Automation Alley Member Consortium is a membership of technologically diverse, progressive business, governmental and educational visionaries working in concert to attract world-class talent and businesses to Southeast Michigan.

For more information, visit http://www.automationalley.com/