YPSILANTI, MICH / As ACM continues to grow, reporting July as the largest revenue month in ACM history, Chief Operating Officer Mark Chaput announces his departure to pursue a new opportunity. Mark Chaput joined ACM as VP of Construction and Infrastructure in January of 2017 serving as a consultant from MDOT in the critical first phase of buildout of the ACM Smart Mobility Test Center. Chaput officially joined the ACM team in August 2018 as VP of Facility Operations and Construction. As a 30-year veteran Civil Engineer with the Michigan Department of Transportation, Mark brought meaningful experience to the role of construction in first-hand knowledge of what real-world road conditions were like, what types of physical infrastructure and materials were used, and how to bring it all to life. Managing a variety of vendors and working successfully between cross-industry engineers in automotive, communications and technology, Mark’s efforts ensured that ACM was able to open on-time with a facility that has proven to be globally recognized as a premiere location for the research, development, test, and validation of connected, automated and electrified vehicle technologies.

In 2019, Mark was named COO by the ACM Board of Directors, building on his role in the ongoing physical construction of the road environments, to a broader role in the operations of the test center. He also served as Interim CEO in advance of Reuben Sarkar, who joined as president and CEO of ACM in May of 2020. “Mark has left a lasting impression on the landscape at ACM both physically, through his hands-on effort to build our Smart Mobility Test Center, as well as culturally, through his passionate and committed work ethic that has allowed ACM to become a centerpiece in the Mobility Ecosystem.” Said Sarkar. “Mark was invaluable in my transition into the role as CEO and is continuing that same level of commitment during his transition out as COO of ACM. His contributions are countless and worthy of high praise and recognition. From all at ACM, we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

As recently reported in Crain’s Detroit article “Getting on Track” in July, the ACM garage facilities are at capacity. On September 3, 2021, ACM publicly announced the residency of GameAbove EMU (LINK) who signed the lease agreement that drove that capacity utilization. In response to increased demand for onsite facilities, ACM has been conducting workshops to strategize on future buildout of the Innovation and Technology Campus that will continue to evolve to meet industry needs. ACM also has plans later this month to announce new investment partners and newly available test environments. This all in addition to the announcement in August at CAR MBS that ACM will operate the new Detroit Smart Parking Lab in the Corktown neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan.

To keep up with the growth in activities both onsite and offsite, ACM has been growing its’ team adding a new Technical Director earlier this year, adding new engineering support through ACM’s operational partner Intertek, and has plans to grow the marketing team in the near term. While not planning to replace Chaput immediately, ACM is planning to engage in a patient search process to identify a prospective leadership candidate.

###