SAE International has announced it will hold its Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress on Oct. 5-6 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., and it's the first time the event will be led by a military and defense OEM, Oshkosh Corporation.


The two-day convention features technical sessions, seminars, and displays addressing engineering issues for commercial vehicles used in on-highway, off-highway and military and defense applications.

More commonly known as COMVEC, the 2010 event is co-chaired by Oshkosh's Gregory L. Fredericksen, executive vice president and chief procurement officer, and Donald H. Verhoff, executive vice president, corporate engineering and technology.

It is the first time since COMVEC began in 2004 that a military and defense OEM has provided executive leadership for this event.

"It boils down to diversity," said Greg Muha, manager of SAE International's commercial vehicle and defense sector. "When we launched COMVEC in 2004, our goal was to have a defense-related company in a leadership role by 2010 to complement the on-road and off-road foundation we already had in place."

In addition, two executive management focus panels will feature military and defense topics.

The first will be a panel of defense community senior executives, who will discuss how engineering impacts the military and defense businesses. Verhoff will moderate the panel, which will feature Andy Hove, president of Oshkosh Defense; Archie Massicotte, president of Navistar Defense; Gary Slack, president of U.S. combat systems at BAE Systems; and Michael Bolon, senior vice president of enterprise strategy and chief technical officer at General Dynamics Land Systems.

A second panel, addressing military business needs, will feature Thom Mathes, executive director of development, U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC); Paul Skalny, director, National Automotive Center, TARDEC; Col. Mike Micucci, director ground transportation and engineering systems, Marine Corps Systems Command; as well as representatives from USMC program executive office, Joint MRAP Vehicle Program and the National Guard Bureau.

A presentation will focus on the National Research Council Report: Assessment of Fuel Economy Technologies for Medium and Heavy Duty Vehicles. Dr. Andrew Brown, Jr., executive director and chief technologist for Delphi Corp. and the 2010 president of SAE International, will present the report. Brown served as chairperson for the report.

Other featured speakers during the event include Doug Oberhelman, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar; Bob Bohn, chairman and CEO of Oshkosh Corporation; and Dee Kapur, president of Navistar's truck group.

More info: www.sae.org/events/cve