New Automotive Vice President Slated for SAE International

WARRENDALE, Pa., Dec. 21, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mircea Gradu, Head of Virtual Tools Analysis and Transmission/Driveline Engineering at Chrysler Group LLC, is the 2010 nominee for Automotive Vice President of SAE International.

This elected position entails serving a three-year term on the SAE Board of Directors starting in January 2010. Gradu would succeed Jacqui A. Dedo, Vice President, Automotive, Dana Holding Corporation.

As SAE International's Automotive Vice President, Gradu will be responsible for providing leadership and continuity for the Society's automotive initiative and for integrating the needs of the automotive industry in SAE International's standards, events and educational programs. SAE International also elects vice presidents for its aerospace and commercial-vehicle sectors.

In his current role with Chrysler Group, Gradu is responsible for identifying, enhancing and deploying virtual engineering capability. Additionally, Gradu serves as Head of Transmission and Driveline Engineering for Chrysler Group. In this capacity Gradu is responsible for developing, designing and releasing all transmission and driveline systems. Prior to joining Chrysler Group in 2007, Gradu was Director and Chief Engineer of Automotive Engineering at The Timken Company.

A member of SAE International since 1994, Gradu was honored with the SAE Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation in 2008 and the SAE Forest McFarland Award in 2005.

Gradu holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Stuttgart.

SAE International is a global association of more than 121,000 engineers and related technical experts in the automotive, aerospace and commercial-vehicle industries. SAE International's core competencies are life-long learning and standards development. SAE International's charitable arm is the SAE Foundation, which supports many programs, including A World in Motion(R) and the Collegiate Design Series.

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