The Michigan Alliance for Greater Mobility Advancement (MAGMA) recently elected two board members to serve as new co-chairs. MAGMA welcomes Erika Nielsen, Director of Global Government Affairs, BorgWarner, and Carolina de Arriba, Human Resources Director, Robert Bosch, LLC. Both have demonstrated strong support and commitment to connecting automotive manufacturing employers and educational institutions in order to improve opportunities for on-demand worker training.
MAGMA is a consortium that works collaboratively with educational institutions, original equipment manufacturers, tier suppliers, and workforce organizations to address the automotive industry’s skills and training needs. MAGMA has successfully developed and implemented curriculum to train workers leveraging over $4.3 million in public investments to address training needs for engineering and technical talent in green mobility-related occupations. With a shift of focus towards a broader range of automotive industry needs, such as connected and autonomous vehicles, MAGMA now works to deliver skill and training needs to employers across the rapidly changing advanced mobility sector.
Erika Nielsen
“Many of MAGMA’s goals align with the objectives of BorgWarner regarding talent development,” said Nielsen. “Both entities have a focus on developing talent to meet the evolving needs of the automotive industry. With its rich automotive history and experience, combined with the sheer number of global companies that support the automotive sector, Michigan is poised to be a leader in establishing a collaborative environment to improve global talent issues,” Nielsen explained. “I think the movement that MAGMA started can lead our state and the industry in establishing world-class training programs for the automotive talent of today and tomorrow.”
With a rapidly changing landscape for automotive technology, de Arriba agreed that MAGMA’s efforts are important in developing a skilled workforce to fill the up-and-coming jobs in the automotive industry.
“The automotive industry is going through exciting times,” said de Arriba. “In the last few years, the pace of chance has been just breathtaking. We hear more and more words like, connected, autonomous, and electrified. In the space of Human Capital, this means for us that we are facing a challenge to ensure we have the right talent to support this innovation and transformation of the automotive industry.”
Carolina de Arriba
As Erika Nielsen and Carolina de Arriba are welcomed as MAGMA’s new co-chairs, MAGMA honors and thanks former board chair Randall Champagne for six years of service to MAGMA and our region. Mr. Champagne is a Hybrid Engineering Project Manager with General Motors. The MAGMA Co-chairs and the Governing Board would like to thank Champagne for his leadership, dedication, and continued time as a Board member.
MAGMA Governing Board member organizations include: Co-Chair BorgWarner, Co-Chair Robert Bosch LLC, Vice-Chair SAE International, General Motors, Ford Motor Company Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, GKN Driveline, MAHLE, the State of Michigan Workforce Development Agency, the Center for Automotive Research, the Southeast Michigan Community Alliance, University of Detroit Mercy, Macomb Community College, Michigan Technological University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University. MAGMA is convened by the Workforce Intelligence Network.
Contact: David Palmer at david.palmer@win-semich.org for any questions.
Erika Nielsen, BorgWarner
Carolina De Arriba, Robert Bosch, LLC
David Palmer, Workforce Intelligence Network