WARREN, Mich. - Christopher E. Borroni-Bird, one of the world’s leading fuel cell experts, will join General Motors Corp. in a unique new role to blend technology and design. 

Borroni-Bird, named to the new position of director of Design and Vehicle Technology Interface, will focus on the critical relationship between technology and design innovations, it was announced today by Lawrence D. Burns, GM vice president of Research & Development and Planning. His appointment is effective immediately. 

Prior to joining General Motors, Borroni-Bird was in technology management at Daimler-Chrysler and led an effort to develop fuel cells that run on gasoline. 

"Chris is an exciting addition for General Motors as we move forward with innovative technologies and eye-catching designs. His past work with gasoline-powered fuel cells is evidence of his skill to take a scientific challenge and deliver a functional, cutting-edge technology," said Burns. 

Said the 35-year-old Borroni-Bird, "I see that GM is taking more risks with their designs and introducing technology before anyone else. This is a company that is clearly pushing the design-technology envelope and going places." 

Borroni-Bird’s new position demonstrates an enhanced focus for GM on the interface between design and technology. "I’d like to be right at the intersection of design, purchasing, R&D and engineering – the sweet spot," said Borroni-Bird. He will report jointly to Jamie Hsu, executive director of GM Technology Management and Technology Intelligence and John Taylor, director of the Advanced Portfolio Exploration (APEx) Group. 

Technological innovations can enable design changes that may be more efficient, more safe, or simply more pleasing to the eye, according to Borroni-Bird. For example, if there were a better way to cool the engine, designers could reduce the area of the car’s grill. If fuel cells or some other alternative propulsion system matures and can be placed anywhere in the car, designers will be able to take all sorts of imaginative new steps to improve safety or styling, he said.  

Burns and Borroni-Bird stress that his primary role is to meld a variety of advanced technologies and design, but his fuel-cell expertise may be called upon. "GM has an excellent fuel cell program and a lot of people working on it already," Borroni-Bird said. "I may be able to add some value to it with my experience, but that’s not why I’m coming to GM." 

Borroni-Bird is a native of Liverpool, England. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cambridge University in 1991. During a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Tokyo, he continued his studies on reaction heat and catalysts, but also found time to consult with Boeing Corp’s Japanese division and be a sales representative for a British scientific instrument manufacturer. 

He joined the former Chrysler Corporation in 1992 when the automaker was beginning to explore ways to tap into technology being developed by national laboratories like Sandia, Livermore and Argonne in a post-cold war era. He soon became intrigued by the fuel cell work being done by U.S. Department of Energy researchers and its potential for automotive propulsion. While academic researchers were puzzling over ways to store pure hydrogen or trying to run fuel cells with ethanol or methanol, Borroni-Bird led an effort to develop a way to make them run on gasoline, a fuel for which the U.S. already has a $200 billion distribution network in place. 

(June 29, 2000)