Daniel B. O'Connell Director, Project Driveway General Motors
Daniel B. O'Connell is the Director responsible for Global Fuel Cell ‘Project Driveway' Fleet Service, Support and Infrastructure for the General Motors Fuel Cell Activities Commercial Team. He had previously been responsible for Advanced Product Engineering including Operations and Process, and held positions of leadership in: Research, Fuel Processing, Program Management, and System Development activity at the Fuel Cell Activities Center in Honeoye Falls, New York.
Daniel began his career with General Motors in 1977 in the vehicle development group at the Cadillac Motor Car Division. He served the next 11 years in various engineering roles involved in development and calibration of numerous engine/vehicle programs for the Cadillac and Powertrain divisions in Detroit, Michigan.
From 1988 to 1996 Mr. O'Connell worked on International Engine Management Systems for Delphi Automotive Division in Rochester, New York. He worked with fuel system customers and spent extensive time in South America and Europe. During that time he was the lead on several key engine programs including the 20% and 100% Ethanol platforms for GM to Brasil.
Since 1996, Daniel has been working on fuel cell technology for General Motors. He has been responsible for leading areas of the development activities in many key programs including Department of Energy Methanol Fuel Cell System and several Auto Show concept vehicles. Daniel was also responsible for the Fuel Cell System utilized in the world's first gasoline powered fuel cell vehicle demonstrated in 2001 as well as the Distributed Generation activity for Dow Chemical. He was Staff Engineer in charge of Advanced Product Engineering for the latest Fuel Cell Power Module for the Sequel and Equinox programs. He has generated multiple patents and research disclosures during his career and has spoken at various Fuel Cell conferences/seminars as well as at a recent SAE TopTech conference.
Mr. O'Connell has earned an AS, a BS, and a MS degree. He received the Excellence in Management award as the top graduate student in his class at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. He currently serves on the Nazareth Alumni Board as well as the Management curriculum Advisory Board. Daniel was the key technical contributor to the 2004 fuel cell education program available on GMability.com thru the Weekly Reader that won the 2004 SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation award. He also received the 2004 Chairman's Honors for his leadership role in the Dow Chemical fuel cell project.