About HWA Analytics
Kim Hill, Co-Founder and President
Kim Hill is co-founder and President of HWA Analytics, a Michigan-based research and consulting firm he helped establish in 2013. The firm’s focus is on providing research, consulting, advising and partnering services to public and private sector organizations in the areas of automotive and advanced transportation, advanced manufacturing and sustainable economic development practices. The firm’s expertise lies in technology trends, labor market analytics, supply chains, sustainable development strategies, market research, climate change, and societal sustainability. The HWA team has experience in economic analysis, market research, competitive intelligence, supply chain analysis, financial forecasting, data management, corporate and public sector strategy, and client relations. HWA has worked with Fortune 500 companies, many small and medium-sized companies, and also in the public sector.
Mr. Hill leverages 17 years of experience at the Center for Automotive Research, where he rose to Group Research Director and Associate Director of Research. Hill authored studies that quantified the economic and employment contributions of assembly plants, companies, and entire industries to the economies of individual states and the nation, while focusing on sustainable solutions for communities whose traditional auto sectors were undergoing unprecedented restructuring. He created and directed the Automotive Communities Partnership program that delivered advanced manufacturing sector intelligence and trend forecasting to many states and communities across the Great lakes region in the United States and Canada.
HWA advises on policy and business feasibility for connected, automated, electric and hybrid, and alternative-fueled vehicles, and the supporting infrastructures. HWA provides expertise on technological white spaces and how governments and the private sector can leverage their assets to capitalize on opportunities in the intellectual areas of the automotive and transportation sectors. HWA is currently working with many clients researching the various facets of connected and autonomous vehicle technologies and assessing potential business models adapted to these technologies. Hill has served on the MichAuto Steering and Advocacy Committees, and is currently serving on the Business Development Advisory Committee of Ann Arbor SPARK. Hill played an early role in studying the feasibility and creating a business model for the American Center of Mobility, at Willow Run Airport, MI—an automated and connected vehicle testing and validation facility.
Further, Hill and his team have engaged with many communities undergoing major economic transitions. Hill has led the formation and staffing of task forces and community groups focused on transitioning the economy of the communities. His firm has also provided data and intelligence to the efforts.
HWA’s Consulting Services Team
Ms. Debbie Maranger Menk – Director of Consulting Services
Ms. Menk’s background is in the areas of economic modeling and public policy analysis. She has expertise in financial analysis, econometric modeling, and forecasting. Prior to joining Emsi, her experience included performing analyses of the economic impacts of the automotive industry or sectors of the industry on various regions and populations in North America, including GM and Chrysler bankruptcy studies used by members of Congress during the 2009 recession.
Ms. Menk has spent much of her career as an analyst in the power industry, working for utility companies and vendors to the industry. She has extensive experience modeling electric power markets and the North American gas supply system. She developed econometric models that projected power plant operations, capacity growth, fuel prices, and demand. These forecasts were then used by regulators, utility executives and state legislators to address a variety of strategic issues for power generators such as the cost effectiveness of pollution control projects, green field & brown field investments, and power plant acquisitions.
Ms. Menk has an M.B.A. with an emphasis in finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. She has completed several graduate-level engineering courses at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. She received her B.A. degree from Valparaiso University.
Mr. David Munson – Founder, David Munson & Associates
David Munson’s management and leadership experience ranges from small family-owned businesses to large privately-held corporations, including for profit, non-profit and government entities. He has started more than a dozen businesses. Mr. Munson started Indiana’s first “Small Business Assistance Center” and served over 1,200 clients. SBAC became a small business development model for 7 other communities in the state.
Mr. Munson led the Lenawee County Chamber of Commerce as president & CEO for 23 years. He gained comprehensive experience in economic development, using virtually every type of program available and pioneering many new programs at the local and state levels. He organized and led successful international business attraction efforts. He was a leader in starting a fuel ethanol plant in Lenawee County and a commercial wind farm in Gratiot County. The Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC, called Mr. Munson one of the most ethical and creative thinkers they had met. Mr. Munson’s consulting clients include: automotive and consumer products manufacturers; life sciences, chemical and renewable energy companies; and real estate developers.
IN MEMORIAM:
Richard Wallace, M.S.
With great sadness and a heavy heart, we say farewell to a wonderful friend and brilliant colleague. His spirit will endure.
Richard Wallace, M.S., has 22 years of experience designing, conducting, and managing transportation projects and research. Currently, Mr. Wallace consults on connected and automated vehicle efforts for the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, automotive industry partners, the Federal Highway Administration, and other organizations. He has led past projects for AAA National, the Michigan International Speedway (MIS), DENSO, and many other organizations. His work for MIS, in particular, involved conducting research on advanced automotive research and development needs in the industry, with a focus on facility needs for such R&D.
Mr. Wallace has served as Principal and Co-Principal Investigator for a number of studies such as one entitled the “Cost Benefit of Providing Non-emergency Medical Transportation.” This groundbreaking study, completed under contract to the Transportation Research Board compared the healthcare costs and benefits to the additional transportation costs of providing non-emergency medical transportation-to-transportation- disadvantaged persons that face transportation barriers to obtaining needed medical care. Wallace also worked for several years at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and for several more at the University of Michigan Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory. At the University of Michigan, his worked focused on the evaluation of several intelligent transportation systems (ITS) field tests in the State of Michigan.
Mr. Wallace holds an MS. in Technology and Science Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. He is a Ph.D. candidate In Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan.
His work has been published in Transportation Research Record and other publications. He is a past president of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Michigan and currently serves on its board of directors.