William Clay Ford, Jr., Confirmed as Featured Speaker for SAE International 2010 World Congress

DETROIT, Jan. 7, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SAE International confirmed that William Clay "Bill" Ford, Jr., Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company, will be the featured banquet speaker at the SAE International 2010 World Congress.

The SAE 2010 World Congress runs April 13-15 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Ford will speak during the Annual Banquet on Thursday, April 15 at 6 p.m. in the AVL Technology Leadership Center. Ford Motor Company is serving as host company for the event.

"We are pleased to have Bill Ford as the featured speaker at our annual banquet," Patti Kreh, Conference Director of the SAE World Congress, said. "He brings a unique perspective on the global automotive industry, along with the long history and prestige of the Ford Motor Company."

The SAE 2010 World Congress will feature several new changes to its format, including moving from four to three days. Other changes include:

  --  More time during technical sessions for attendee-driven Q&A with
      presenters;
  --  Technology focused lounges that will be open throughout the World
      Congress for informal gatherings. Those focus areas include:
      --  Safety and testing
      --  Powertrain fuels, lubricants, emissions and environment
      --  Electronics/integrated design for manufacturing
          (IDM)/materials/sustainability;
  --  Small discussion groups facilitated by industry subject matter
      experts;
  --  Daily receptions on the new, "innovators only" exhibition floor that
      is open to proven industry innovators and solutions providers; and
  --  Creation of a pre-Congress attendee list to enhance networking
      opportunities.

The theme of the event is Ecollaboration: Engage, Exchange, Excel; which is the concept of overcoming economic and environmental challenges with innovative solutions achieved through collaboration. For more information about the SAE 2010 World Congress, visit http://www.sae.org/congress/ .

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

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