John Casesa is managing partner of Casesa Shapiro Group LLC, a premier boutique advisor to select clients focused on the global automobile industry.

One of Wall Street’s leading auto analysts for 17 years, Mr. Casesa served as global coordinator for Automotive Research and managing director at Merrill Lynch & Co. He was responsible for coordinating the efforts of the firm’s auto analysts in North America, Europe and Asia who produced research on OEMs, suppliers, tire manufacturers, parts retailers and wholesalers, vehicle auctions and franchised auto dealers. Mr. Casesa was ranked as an All-Star analyst 11 times in Institutional Investor magazine’s influential annual survey.

Mr. Casesa joined Merrill Lynch in 1999. From 1989 to 1999, he built his reputation at the research-driven investment bank, Wertheim Schroder & Co., where he was a managing director and member of the Investment Committee. From 1986 to 1989, he was a member of the Marketing and Product Planning Staff at General Motors Corporation in Detroit.

Mr. Casesa has addressed the senior management and boards of many automakers, suppliers, dealer groups and related companies. He has been a featured speaker at numerous automotive industry conferences including the Automotive News World Congress, the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, and conferences hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers, the National Automobile Dealers’ Association, the American International Automobile Dealers Association, the Society of Automotive Analysts, the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, as well as the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the Center for Automotive Research. In January 2006, Mr. Casesa served as an industry advisor to the Automotive Governors at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

Known for his extensive knowledge of the industry, Mr. Casesa created and hosted many automotive conferences that focused on a range of topics including the transformation of vehicle retailing, automaker productivity trends, the evolving OEM/supplier relationship, pension reform, the health care cost crisis in the U.S., trade policy and auto safety trends. In 2005, he co-authored with the World Resources Institute the landmark report, Energy Security & Climate Change: Investing in the Clean Car Revolution.

Mr. Casesa is a director of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc (NYSE: AXL). He is a past member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s User Advisor Council, the New York Stock Exchange’s Research Analyst Qualification Exam Committee, and is a past president of the Automotive Analysts of New York.

Mr. Casesa holds a B.S. from St. John’s University and an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.