Detroit September 27, 2001 Covisint today announced the appointment of Michael O'Rourke as senior vice president and general counsel for the automotive industry-sponsored e-marketplace.
The appointment comes more than a year-and-a-half after the e-marketplace was first announced in February 2000.
Prior to joining Covisint, O'Rourke, 47, served as the executive vice president and general counsel for Textron Industrial Products in Providence, R.I., and Textron Automotive Co., in Troy, Mich. Textron ranks 150th on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. companies.
In addition to his experience at Textron, O'Rourke also has more than a decade's experience with tier-one auto supplier Johnson Controls. O'Rourke graduated in 1978 from the law school at the University of Michigan.
"Mike O'Rourke is a strong addition to Covisint's senior leadership team," said Kevin English, chairman, CEO and president of the e-marketplace. "Having a general counsel with both legal depth and automotive experience will enable us to work more effectively with our growing customer base."
Covisint has been nothing if not deliberate in its executive appointments. English was himself appointed only in April, more than a year after a coalition of the Big Three automakers, joined by Nissan/Renault, announced the formation of the marketplace. Peugeot Citroën joined in May.
The e-marketplace has defied initial incredulity on the part of skeptics who doubted that its founders would be able to cooperate to the extent necessary to make a coalition marketplace work in the highly competitive auto industry. Covisint has reportedly handled more than $129 billion in transaction volume this year, or more than half of what its Big Three founders DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors spent in 2000.
