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Standard & Poor's DRI Opens Detroit-Area Office

28 April 2000

Standard & Poor's DRI Opens Detroit-Area Office; Office Offers Business Development and Management Consulting Expertise to Auto Industry

    LEXINGTON, Mass.--April 27, 2000--Standard & Poor's DRI, a leading global provider of economic and industry information, forecasting and consulting services, today announced the opening of a Detroit-area office. The new office places Standard & Poor's DRI in the heart of the automotive industry, giving clients greater access to the company's expertise in research, business development, and growth strategy.
    The office's opening coincides with the automotive industry's steady progress toward modularization, which is revolutionizing the automotive industry the way assembly lines did some 80 years ago. Suppliers are scrambling for position and size as automakers require them to develop and assemble modules or entire sections.
    The Detroit-area office will be headed by Shirish Desai, a senior consultant with the Standard & Poor's DRI Global Automotive Group. With more than 12 years' experience in the automotive industry, Desai offers expertise in product and business development, marketing, and strategic planning and management.
    "I joined Standard & Poor's DRI to help position them in the heart of the automotive industry," Desai said, "and take the firm's expertise in vehicle forecasting and technology capabilities one step further into the specialized area of business development, where our clients often need counsel."
    Desai recently joined Standard & Poor's DRI from Metal Forge Company, where he was part of the team that engineered the company's merger with an automotive unit within the SPX Corporation portfolio of companies. Prior to that, Desai was Director of Sales and Marketing at General Signal Electric. He also worked for Ford Motor Company's Vehicle Operations unit for six years, and for Engineering Technology Associates and Detroit Industrial Engineering. Desai holds a masters' degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.