Tailor-made for design engineers and technical leaders, this free webinar provides a comprehensive understanding of key career management principles specifically tailored to their roles, enabling them to enhance their skill sets, navigate the transition from academia to industry, and ultimately achieve greater success in their careers. Derived from our instructor Thomas Seel’s 35-year career in the automotive industry spanning two OEMs with technical, commercial, and global responsibilities, Thomas defines and details three key principles for career management then uses successes and mistakes from his own career as examples. The lecture reviews fundamental engineering areas and the transition from academia to industry. In the end there is no magic, but applying these principles will facilitate personal success:
PASSION – doing what you love,
PROFICIENCY – developing a high skill level, and
PROSPECTIVE – working within an organization.
By attending this webinar, attendees will gain the essential tools and insights to achieve personal success in their engineering careers.
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Course Instructor
Thomas Seel
Thomas Seel is a ’85 BSME graduate from MTU and a retired automotive executive with over 35 years of experience. Most recently Thomas was Chief Vehicle Engineer RWD SUV programs at Stellantis, engineering responsible for the 5th generation Grand Cherokee L, Grand Cherokee, and Grand Cherokee PHEV. Accountable to senior leadership, his specific duty scope included technical and financial management of vehicle systems development and execution as well as coordination of manufacturing production launch. Key accomplishments in the 5th generation Grand Cherokee included enhanced offroad capability, 3 row seating, weight reduction, new electrical architecture, level 2 autonomy, and electrification. The successful production launch was executed at a new plant, Detroit Assembly Complex Mack during the global pandemic.
Prior to the Chief Vehicle Engineer role, Thomas was Head of Current Production Quality for FCA North America responsible for development of vehicle warranty, quality improvements and business systems. His technical foundation is within body engineering, a former Unit Responsible Body Engineering at FCA with over 20 years of body engineering experience which included LX-Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger/Challenger & Dodge Dart.
Thomas’s career experience spans 2 OEMs Chrysler to Stellantis as well as Ford Motor Company and the supply base, U.S. Steel. He has worked in or with engineering teams in Japan, Germany, Italy & Asia. His scope of responsibilities has spanned Design Engineering, Validation, Quality, Marketing & Finance. In retirement, his current focus is contributing to academia or in his words “sharing what I learned”.