As the new CEO of AIAG, Matt Pohlman collaborates with the board of directors to drive initiatives that support members companies as well as mobility industries across the spectrum. Along with directing and managing all aspects of AIAG, Pohlman sets strategic priorities and works closely with internal teams and global partners to facilitate innovative solutions to common industry challenges.

With his entire career to date in automotive, Pohlman’s extensive experience encompasses virtually all areas of supply chain management, including supplier quality, manufacturing, production control, distribution, purchasing, sales and marketing, reverse logistics, customs, and even last-mile delivery to retail stores.

Prior to joining AIAG, he worked domestically and internationally at Federal-Mogul for nearly two decades before joining Delphi Automotive, first as vice president of global supply chain management, then as vice president of integrated supply chain in Luxembourg. Most recently Pohlman worked for Icahn Automotive, WABCO/ZF Group, and First Brands Groups, LLC, in various senior executive roles focused on leadership and transformation.

A current board member for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), Eastern Michigan (Great Lakes) Roundtable, Pohlman previously served on the board of directors for the Motor & Equipment Remanufacturers Association (MERA) and joined the International Automotive Oversight Bureau (IAOB) board of directors in late 2022.

Q: With a successful career in supply chain, what would you like to bring to AIAG?

Pohlman: I’m trying to bring a fresh perspective, one that builds on AIAG’s 40 years of developing standards, training, and industry best practices. And I want to make sure that the emerging leaders from the broader mobility sector know who AIAG is and what we do.

Q: What do you want these emerging mobility leaders and people unfamiliar with AIAG to know about the organization?

Pohlman: AIAG was founded by the Big Three automakers to address common industry issues in a legal, neutral environment. The founders were leaders at a very senior level, but over the last four decades, these leaders — and even the ones who came after them — have retired.

We now have over 4,500 members in all sectors of mobility, from traditional OEMs to EV manufacturers and all tier suppliers large and small. We serve members from the aerospace and commercial vehicles sectors as well as governments and academia.

Of course, the backbone of AIAG is our amazing volunteer base — 900+ strong — who are the best subject matter experts in the industry. Some of our members live and breathe AIAG and send dozens of their best people to work on our committees and project teams. Other members aren’t taking advantage of that opportunity, so we need to make sure that the senior leadership at these companies knows who AIAG is and that they can bring us their problems in supply chain, quality, ESG, and more.

AIAG is where the industry comes together to develop some of the foundational best practices and standards used to make us more efficient — literally hundreds upon hundreds of solutions have saved the industry billions upon billions of dollars. We are working to make sure that individual leaders at the highest levels know and understand the value of their AIAG membership and the immense benefits that come to them as an organization when they send their best people to participate in our committees, project teams, and workgroups.        

Q: What is AIAG’s North Star?

Pohlman: We are looking forward. Automotive ICE vehicles are at our core and that’s not going to change any time soon, but we are also focused on mobility on a broader scale — that includes EVs, AVs, and more. We have to be the problem-solvers and thought leaders in that space. I want us to be a bit more agile and forward-thinking. I want people to think of AIAG as the industry sentinel. And if we are the industry’s sentinel, our role is to protect the industry. We want mobility leaders to bring us their problems and challenges and let us take them to our committees of industry volunteer SMEs to put a plan together and execute on that plan.

Q: What is one area where you want to drive improvement and change?

Pohlman: Our members are the smartest people in the industry. They help identify potential issues before they become problems, and working together, develop solutions that everyone in mobility can use. It’s true that developing standards takes time, but we need a mindset that anticipates what’s coming and finds solutions without sacrificing quality.

The challenge, I’m finding, is that some people just don’t know who we are. We are focused on making sure our success stories are being told to a wider audience. We need to make sure that people are aware of what we are working on.

For AIAG, I want to make sure we are telling our stories and proving where we add value. And I want the new people entering the mobility space to understand that AIAG is where you go to get the latest training. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel — AIAG already has the tools and best practices to give you a head start.

When an individual or company runs into a problem or challenge, I want them to think AIAG. I want the industry to bring its issues to us. Together, we will be writing the next generation of standards for a dramatically changing mobility space and creating efficiencies that make all our operations better.