Center for Automotive Research Names Carla Bailo CEO

The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research has named industry veteran Carla Bailo to become its president and CEO.

Bailo will succeed CAR Chairman and CEO Jay Baron later this autumn. She most recently has been assistant vice president for mobility research and business development at Ohio State University. She also is SAE International’s vice president of automotive.

At Ohio State, Bailo helped the university accelerate sustainable mobility and transportation innovation. She also helped coordinate Ohio State’s involvement as the primary research partner for Smart Columbus, a $140 million program to transform central Ohio into a premier transportation innovation region.

Before joining OSU in 2015, Bailo was senior vice president of research and development for Nissan Motor Co. in North America. She previously spent 10 years at General Motors Co. in various roles involving product development, program management and quality.

Barron co-founded CAR as an independent nonprofit entity in 2003. Previously he was an associate research scientist at the University of Michigan, where he earned a master’s degree and Ph.D in industrial and operations engineering. Barron also holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.