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In his role as executive vice president, general counsel and government relations, Mr. Robinson is responsible for the worldwide legal issues of Metaldyne as well as its relations with domestic and foreign governments.
Before joining Metaldyne, Mr. Robinson served as vice president and general counsel at Delphi Corporation, where he was responsible for all worldwide legal issues, and served on Delphi’s Strategy Board. In 1999, he led the legal team through Delphi’s initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange and complete spin-off from General Motors. Before that, he served as senior vice president, Secretary and General Counsel at ITT Automotive, Inc.
Mr. Robinson spent almost nine years at Chrysler Corporation, first as assistant general counsel for Commercial Affairs, and then as both general counsel of Chrysler International Corporation, the international subsidiary of Chrysler Corporation, and as managing director of Chrysler Austria, GmBH. Mr. Robinson was a key member of the team which re-established Chrysler’s manufacturing presence in Europe. Before Chrysler, he was senior counsel in the automotive operations of TRW Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio. Earlier in his career, he was an associate with two international law firms in New York City, Coudert Brothers and Wender, Murase & White.
Mr. Robinson earned a BA in European history and economics from Cornell University and a law degree from Harvard University. Following two years of preparation at Harvard and the Middlebury Russian School, Mr. Robinson was accepted on the official US-USSR cultural exchange, and spent a year as a research faculty member at Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) State University and Moscow State University. These experiences are detailed in his book An American in Leningrad (W.W. Norton, 1980), a Book of the Month Club alternate selection. He then worked for the University of Leiden in the Netherlands where he, among other things, translated the Russian Family Code into English. Mr. Robinson also published a spy novel, Evil Star (W.W. Norton, 1984) set in part in Russia.
Mr. Robinson is a member of the bar associations in Michigan, New York and Ohio. He is co-chair of the Corporate Counsel Forum of the International Bar Association and a member of the Association of General Counsel. He has a certificate of proficiency in German from the Goethe Institute, and is a director and officer of the German American Chamber of Commerce of Michigan. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law. He has earned several awards, including an Outstanding Contribution Award and the Clarity Award for Clear Legal Writing, both from the State Bar of Michigan. He is a frequent speaker on corporate governance and international legal affairs. | 