Leadership Team

 Greg Fisher, Founder, President & CEO

Founder and chief strategist for Fisher Coachworks, Greg’s 20-year career as president of FisherUnitech has afforded him a unique perspective of Detroit’s transportation industry.  Before managing the growth cycle at Fisher/Unitech, he learned the ropes in the automotive field as an application engineer with Applicon, and later with Intergraph Corporation in Huntsville. Prior to forming FisherUnitech, Greg broadened his systems engineering background through a 5-year tenure with Electronic Data Systems which included international management experience at the Nissan Technical Center in Atsugi, Japan.  Greg is an active member of YPO and holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of San Diego.

  
Griffin Burgh, VP Operations

With 28 years of general management and C-level experience, Griffin brings both start-up and large-company leadership skills to Fisher Coachworks. In a diverse career that includes product development, information publishing, electric vehicle prototyping, and primary research in lithium battery technology.  As a pioneering technologist with a strong background in alternative energy systems, Griffin recently co-authored Energizing Our Future which analyzes emerging alternative energy sources and applications.  Griffin is a YPO alumnus and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah.

   
John VanAlstyne, VP Marketing and Sales

John’s marketing, sales and general management breadth, plus his advanced vehicle technologies know-how, passion in sustainable urban mobility and experience growing businesses is uniquely blended and applied at Fisher Coachworks.  John joined Fisher in 2007 from Ricardo Plc, a leading global vehicle and powertrain engineering consultancy, where he was both Group Marketing Officer and Vice President of Business Development, Marketing & Strategy for US operations.  Earlier at Freudenberg-NOK, he held entrepreneurial general management roles leading new business start-ups and senior sales and marketing leadership roles.  John holds an MBA with honors from Michigan State University and a Marketing degree from Western Michigan University.

   
Kevin Wittrup, VP Engineering/Manufacturing

Kevin Wittrup has lead all aspects of product development and systems integration for highly engineered products. He served as the assistant chief engineer for the 2008 Chevy Malibu, manager of a $750M driveline product line, and throughout his career has lead the successful design, development, and launch of five major products. Kevin is also an experienced entrepreneurial operator and has been a co-founder of two start-up companies. Kevin holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

James Franz, Manufacturing

James Franz is a lean manufacturing expert with 25 years of progressively challenging manufacturing experience.  Jim was trained as a Production Engineer by Toyota in Japan, subsequently working at NUMMI then in Georgetown, Kentucky.  He was recruited by Ford to apply his lean know-how first in Production Engineering, then Ford Australia operations, and finally as a lean advisor in Powertrain Operations.  Jim then joined the Toyota Way Academy as Director of Operations, the consulting company founded by Dr. Jeffrey Liker, author of “The Toyota Way”, where he worked with companies in globally on lean product and process development.  Jim has B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering from General Motors Institute and the University of Michigan.

Rick Hrdlicka, Finance

Rick brings to Fisher Coachworks 25 years of experience in operational, finance/accounting, sales and marketing and the integration of corporate cultures.  He has managed a division of a publicly owned company, developed and managed all financial functions and restructured accounting responsibilities from a reporting function to an effective management tool focused on operational improvement.  Over his career, Rick has supported a number of operational functions, participated in negotiations, due diligence, closing, and integration of acquisitions, completed Business Plans, participated in the successful raise of new equity and brings experience in complex debt/refinancing negotiations.