Rob Gelven

Rob Gelven has been working in the automotive industry for over 30 years. Rob started their career at Ford Motor Company in 1987, where they worked their way up to Chief Engineer of Body Exterior & Safety. In this role, they led a team of 550 engineers and was responsible for executing forward model program milestones, cost and quality improvements for current production, supplier management, product launches, and engineering organization management. Over the course of their 17 years at Ford, they implemented $120M of material cost reductions across multiple current production vehicle lines and delivered 45 forward model milestones including 8 new program launches.

In January 2019, Gelven left Ford to start their own engineering consulting firm, RwG Engineering LLC. As Continuous Improvement Advisor, they provided clients coaching, expertise, and technical guidance on a wide range of continuous improvement projects including technical problem solving, execution and enhancements of Quality Operating Systems, supply chain management and optimization, and product development strategies and operational efficiency.

In December 2020, Gelven joined Dexter Axle as VP of Quality. In this role, they are responsible for leading Dexter’s quality organization and efforts to continue improving the company’s products and processes.

Rob Gelven has a Master of Science in Engineering/Industrial Management from Wayne State University and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Rob also has a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Rob Gelven reports to Adam Dexter, President & CEO. They work with John Economou - Marine President & VP of Axle Operations, Derek Peabody - Chief Financial Officer, and Bryan S. Thursby - Executive VP of Sales & Marketing.