Seemingly, almost out of the blue, Ralph Gilles has stepped out into the spotlight at Chrysler from nowhere. These days, it seems you can't find something to do with Dodge performance without meeting its very hands-on President and CEO, Ralph Gilles. Of course, things like this don't really come out of the blue.
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Born of a Haitian family in New York City, Gilles developed an enthusiasm for cars from the age of six. By the time he was fourteen, his portfolio of concept car sketches so impress and Aunt, that she wrote a letter to Chrysler Chairman of the time, Lee Iacocca. A reply from the company's Design Office counseled the family to send Gilles to an automotive design school. Three of the best were suggested.
"When I was a kid, I lived in an apartment on a busy street. My brother and I would play a game of guessing which cars drove past by the sound of their engines," Gilles wrote in a 2007 article. "That was how I started identifying cars by the sound of their engines alone. My brother and I moved on from guessing Beetles to American V-8s, which also had a distinct sound. It just progressed from there and became a sort of hobby."
Gilles attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial and Transportation Design and secured a position in Chrysler's Design Office. Five years after Black Monday in 1987, the world was still on unsteady feet, but beginning to emerge from an extended recession.
Gilles' first major promotion came six years later, to Manager of the Design Office for Jeep Interiors. After this, the gongs were faster, taking him to Senior Manager and then Design Office Director, to Vice President and later Senior VP of Product Design. The ten-year rocket ride now has him as President and Chief Executive Officer, Dodge Car Brand, and Senior Vice President – Product Design, Chrysler Group LLC.
Aside from go-karting and hanging out at the track, Gilles has participated in the Targa Newfoundland Rally, as well as the Car and Driver One Lap of America. He watches Formula 1 racing and has often been invited to serve as a judge at numerous Concours events, including Pebble Beach, Meadow Brook and Cranbrook, as well as the EyesOn Design car show.
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