Global Leadership Team
With more than 38 years of automotive industry experience, Jeffrey Edwards serves as chairman and CEO of Cooper Standard, a position he has held since May 2013. He joined Cooper Standard as CEO and became a member of the Company's board of directors in October 2012. Since joining Cooper Standard, Edwards has been focused on driving value through culture, innovation and results.
Edwards also serves on the board of directors of Standex International Corp., where he serves on the Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees.
Prior to joining Cooper Standard, Edwards held positions of increasing responsibility at Johnson Controls, Inc. from 1984 to 2012. Most recently, he led the Automotive Experience Asia Group, serving as corporate vice president as well as group vice president and general manager.
Edwards earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in 1984 from Clarion University in Pennsylvania. He has also completed an executive training program at INSEAD, an international graduate business school and research institution.
With 30 years of diverse, global experience in corporate finance and public accounting, Jonathan Banas serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) for Cooper Standard. Based at the Company's world headquarters in Northville, Mich., he reports directly to Jeffrey Edwards, chairman and CEO. Banas is responsible for leading the Company's global accounting and finance activities, including reporting, financial planning and analysis, tax, treasury, internal audit, investor relations, and global finance business services. He also leads corporate strategy, M&A and real estate initiatives for Cooper Standard.
Prior to his appointment as CFO in June 2017, Banas served as Cooper Standard's vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer. In this position, he had responsibility for the Company's accounting function, including ensuring regulatory compliance, developing and implementing accounting policies, maintaining financial records and developing world-class financial best practices.
Before joining Cooper Standard in 2015, Banas spent 11 years at ZF TRW (formerly TRW Automotive Holdings Corp.) in Livonia, Mich., where he served in roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, he was director, financial reporting. He previously held accounting and auditing positions at Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. in Northville, Mich. and KPMG LLP in Detroit. Banas also served as president of a financial management and accounting services firm, 664 Consulting Group, PC, in Plymouth, Mich.
Banas earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting at Wayne State University in Detroit and a Master of Business Administration degree, with distinction, in finance and accounting from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) and a member of the American Institute of CPAs.
With more than 28 years of automotive industry experience, Patrick Clark serves as president, sealing systems and chief manufacturing officer, a position he has held since January 2024. In this role, he leads Cooper Standard’s sealing business and manufacturing operations functions toward world-class levels. Clark also has global responsibility for customer satisfaction, business development, procurement, operations and automotive profit and loss in support of the Company’s profitable growth targets. Additionally, he serves as chair of the Company’s Global Manufacturing Council, which focuses on aligning the global manufacturing organization to implement best practices and improve overall efficiency and effectiveness worldwide.
From August 2020 to January 2022, he served as senior vice president, chief global manufacturing officer, where he led Cooper Standard’s automotive and non-automotive manufacturing operations toward world-class levels in support of the Company’s profitable growth targets.
From 2019 to August 2020, he served as senior vice president, chief global engineering and product strategy officer, where he led the Company’s global engineering function to design and develop superior products to meet customer needs, as well as developed product strategy for the Company’s automotive product lines to drive a distinct and sustainable competitive advantage.
From 2017 to 2018, Clark served as vice president, business development. In this role, he was responsible for profitable growth in North America along with overall customer relationships and introducing new innovations to the market.
From 2013 to 2017, Clark was senior director, global product line sealing, where he established the future direction of the Company’s sealing product line in support of Cooper Standard’s vision.
During his time at Cooper Standard, Clark has held leadership positions in engineering, operations, program management, finance, strategy and sales. He has led and supported divestiture and acquisition targets, as well as global initiatives around growth, standardization and innovation to improve the performance of the sealing business. He joined Standard Products, later acquired by Cooper Standard, as an intern in June 1994.
Clark earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, and a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Michigan in Dearborn, Mich. Clark also provides executive oversight of Cooper Standard’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Employee Resource Group.
With more than 21 years of global automotive manufacturing experience, Christopher Couch serves as president, fluid handling systems and chief technology officer for Cooper Standard. In this role, he oversees the fluid handling business and leads R&D, product development and engineering, product strategy, and program management. He also has P&L responsibility for Applied Materials Science (AMS), which is a venture business unit focused on commercialization of unique materials developed by the company. He is also founder and CEO of Liveline Technologies, a software startup that was born from innovations at Cooper Standard. Liveline Technologies converts existing manufacturing assets to autonomous systems using advanced artificial intelligence.
Couch serves as chair of the Company’s Global Technology Council, which oversees development of technologies in all areas of the business. Relevant technology domains include materials science, product design, manufacturing process technology, and artificial intelligence. He also leads the CS Open Innovation initiative, which aims to position Cooper Standard as the partner of choice for open innovation with start-ups, universities, and other suppliers.
Based in Livonia, Mich. at the Company's Global Technology Center, Couch reports to the Company's Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Edwards.
From 2016 to 2018, Couch served as vice president, product line strategy and innovation. In this role, he led Cooper Standard’s innovation process and developed the Company’s strategies for organic and inorganic growth in its core product lines. Before joining Cooper Standard, Couch served as chief technical officer and global manufacturing vice president at Lear Corp. in Southfield, Mich. He joined the company in 2013 as a senior executive responsible for advanced engineering, advanced manufacturing and cost optimization.
From 2005 to 2013, he worked at Johnson Controls, Inc. in a variety of P&L leadership positions based in Korea and Japan as the regional president. He was group vice president for Johnson Controls Asia-Pacific with responsibility for regional operations, including advanced development, engineering, program management, and manufacturing at all wholly owned and joint-venture affiliates. He was also responsible for global commercial activity for Asia Pacific customer groups.
From 1993 to 2005, Couch held roles of increasing responsibility at Toyota Motor Corp. During his tenure, he was among the first non-Japanese employees hired and trained as an engineer, as well as the first non-Japanese employee promoted to management in Japan. Fluent in Japanese, he is trained in the Toyota Production System and lean principles.
Couch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering as a Hughes Aircraft Company Masters Fellow, and a doctorate in operations management with a finance concentration as a National Science Foundation Fellow, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
With more than 24 years of experience working in publicly traded, international and privately held manufacturing, automotive and construction organizations, MaryAnn Peterson Kanary serves as senior vice president, chief legal officer and secretary for Cooper Standard. Based at the Company’s world headquarters in Northville, Mich., she reports to Jeffrey Edwards, chairman and CEO. Kanary leads the legal and compliance functions for the Company.
Most recently, Kanary served as executive vice president and chief legal officer at Barton Malow Holdings LLC, corporate secretary for Barton Malow Enterprises, Inc. and trustee for The Barton Malow Foundation. She also served as managing director of Barton Malow’s LIFTbuild, LLC through the development and construction of its first proof of concept in North America.
From 2016 to 2017, she served as associate general counsel and director of global legal compliance at Cooper Standard, where she oversaw all legal compliance matters. Previously, she held positions of increasing responsibility in-house at Toyoda Gosei North America Corp. (now Toyoda Gosei Americas) and Masco Corp. Prior to moving in-house, Kanary was an associate at the law firms of Butzel Long, P.C. and Goodwin Procter LLP.
Kanary earned a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass., where she was submission editor for the Harvard Environmental Law Review, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with highest distinction from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Active in her local community, Kanary currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Judson Center and as co-vice chair of the Board of Directors for the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit.
Larry Ott serves as senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Cooper Standard. In this role, Ott is based at the Company’s headquarters in Northville, Mich. and is responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership for the human resources function and fostering the development of human resource capabilities across the global enterprise. He also leads all human resource practices and programs, including organization effectiveness, employee engagement, compensation and benefits, talent acquisition and development, succession management, and labor and employee relations. Ott reports to the Company’s Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Edwards.
He joined Cooper Standard in August 2013 with more than 30 years of global human resources and labor relations experience. Ott most recently served as senior vice president, human resources for Meritor, Inc. in Troy, Mich., where he was responsible for the global human resources strategy for the company’s 9,000 employees.
Prior, he held a similar position at Ally Financial Inc. (formerly GMAC Inc.) in Detroit from 2006 to 2010, where he oversaw the human resources strategy, policies and programs for the auto finance, insurance and commercial finance business units of 10,000 employees. Earlier, Ott spent more than 20 years at General Motors Corp. in a variety of progressive human resources, employee and labor relations functions.
Ott earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and English, with a minor in economics, from the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point and a Master of Business Administration degree, with a concentration in organizational behavior and industrial relations, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Active in the community, Ott is on the Executive Committee for the American Cancer Society’s annual Detroit Discovery Ball, is on the Executive Board of Trustees of the Michigan Colleges Alliance, is a member of the Board at Jack’s Place for Autism, is the fundraising lead for Independent Living Alliance, an organization focused on housing for adults with autism, and is on the Advisory Board of Human Resources Network International.
With more than 25 years of experience spanning a wide range of functions and product areas, Shannon B. Quinn serves as president of the Industrial & Specialty Group. Based at the Company's world headquarters in Northville, Mich., she reports to the Company’s Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Edwards. In this role, Quinn works to progress the Company’s diversification strategy to accelerate growth and maximize the value of Cooper Standard’s products and technologies in industrial and specialty markets. Additionally, she serves as the Global Executive Sponsor for Cooper Standard’s Women’s Resource Group (WISE).
From April 2022 to June 2024, she served as vice president, chief commercial and strategy officer, where she was responsible for the global commercial group and corporate strategy.
Prior to joining Cooper Standard, Quinn served as president, consumer original equipment (OE) North America for Bridgestone Corp. from 2017 to 2022. In this role, she was responsible for leading business development, commercial negotiations, program management, strategy and the overall profit and loss for the business unit. She also led the new initiative to expand Bridgestone’s overall business with new OE’s and new mobility players.
Previously, she held titles of increasing responsibility at Adient and its predecessor Johnson Controls, serving as vice president, Ford business unit, where she was responsible for leading all new business pursuit opportunities and generation of revenue plans supporting overall business projections. She joined the global automotive supplier as managing director for the Ford business unit in 2011. From 2000 to 2011, Quinn held several strategic commercial positions with Visteon Corp. She began her career as a product engineer at Ford Motor Co. in 1991.
Quinn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and a Master of Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. She has also completed multiple exclusive executive leadership development programs. She has served as an OESA (Original Equipment Supplier Association) director and an Automotive Hall of Fame board director. Quinn currently serves as a board director for Vista Maria and chairs the Board Development Committee.
Soma Venkat, Ph. D., serves as senior vice president and chief information technology officer for Cooper Standard. Based at the Company’s world headquarters in Northville, Mich., Venkat is responsible for leading Cooper Standard’s information technology (IT) function and reports to the Company's Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Edwards.
Prior to joining Cooper Standard in 2021, Venkat served as chief information officer for IXS (Innovative Xcessories and Services), a provider of vehicle uplift services and coating solutions. In this role, Venkat was instrumental in turning around the IT team to successfully deliver multiple digitization, data and cyber-security initiatives enabling business resilience during the COVID pandemic. From 2016 to 2020, Venkat held roles of increasing responsibility at Cooper Standard, most recently as global vice president, information technology.
Prior, he was the co-founder and chief operating officer at the technology startup, InfoShuk. Previously, Venkat held IT leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Meritor, Masco Corp. and ProQuest. He started his career as a senior consultant at Oracle Corp.
Venkat earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Madras in India and a Master of Applied Science degree in applied mathematics from The College of Engineering in Guindy, India. In addition, he holds a Master of Science degree in computational mathematics and a Ph.D. in computational mathematics from the University of Windsor in Canada. Venkat is a six sigma Black Belt and has also completed several executive certificates in management, program/strategic marketing and program/finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.