William R. Chapin (born June 7, 1948 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States) is the American grandson of Roy D. Chapin, a founder of the

Hudson Motor Car Company The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through ...

, and the son of

Roy D. Chapin, Jr. Roy Dikeman Chapin Jr. (September 21, 1915 – August 5, 2001) was the chairman and chief executive officer of American Motors Corporation (AMC). Chapin's father, Roy D. Chapin Sr., was one of the co-founders of the Hudson Motor Car Company; H ...

, the former chairman and CEO of the

American Motors Corporation American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...

. He is currently president of the

Automotive Hall of Fame The Automotive Hall of Fame is an American museum. It was founded in 1939 and has over 800 worldwide honorees. It is part of the MotorCities National Heritage Area. the Automotive Hall of Fame includes persons who have contributed greatly to au ...

in Dearborn, Michigan.

Education

He received his Business Administration bachelor's degree at

Babson College Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Established in 1919, its central focus is on entrepreneurship education. It was founded by Roger W. Babson as an all-male business institute, but became coeducational i ...

in 1972.

Career

Involved with the automotive industry his whole life, Chapin spent 14 years with American Motors in various sales, marketing and product planning positions. For two years, he was on special assignment in France helping develop a strategic product plan for

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

and AMC in North America and launching the

Jeep Cherokee The Jeep Cherokee is a line of SUVs manufactured and marketed by Jeep over five generations. Originally marketed as a variant of the Jeep Wagoneer, the Cherokee has evolved from a full-size SUV to one of the first compact SUVs and into its curr ...

in Europe. Named international marketing director for AMC in 1984, he was responsible for all Jeep marketing outside the U.S. and the launch of Jeep in Beijing, China. In 1987, he left AMC to establish Chapin & Co., an automotive marketing services company whose clients included ASC, CART/IndyCar, Ford Special Vehicles Team, ITT Automotive and Volvo Cars. In addition, from 1991 to 1995, he held an equity position in a Dearborn, Michigan motorsports communications firm that was responsible for all Ford worldwide motorsports marketing communications. In 1999, Chapin restructured his company to devote more time to the launch of the

MotorCities National Heritage Area MotorCities National Heritage Area or Motor Cities National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area that commemorates and promotes the automobile industry in Metro Detroit, with portions of 16 counties in southern Michigan, ...

, an affiliate of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

dedicated to preserving, interpreting and promoting the automotive heritage of Michigan. After serving on the board of directors for the Automotive Hall of Fame for nearly five years, he was appointed its president in July 2010.

References

motorcities.org

External links

Thedetroitbureau.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, William R 1948 births Living people People from Detroit Babson College alumni