Ralph Gilles, Global Head of Design

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

When I sat down to write this I had no idea I’d end up talking about Ralph Gilles, the Global Head of Design for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

He’s a Haitian American who grew up in Montreal. He’s a black man who led the team that came up with the industry changing Chrysler 300C in 2005. It was the North American Car of the Year. Gilles also led the design team that created the 2014 SRT Viper.

His life story has all the earmarks of a Hollywood tale including an encouraging letter from Lee Iacocca when Ralph was a child. A failure in college. Then a reboot in one of the colleges recommended in that Iacocca letter. Employment at Chrysler followed then a history making ride that’s still underway.

When I looked at Gilles’ Twitter feed this afternoon he was promoting a black woman, LaShirl Turner, Chrysler’s director of Color & Material Mastering.

Curiously, we wouldn’t need a Black History Month if we’d just allow black people to be people on a level playing field. What are you afraid of?

Peace.