Aleks Miziolek is an experienced public company director and C-Suite leader having most recently served as the Chief Transformation Officer, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer for Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc., a global, NYSE listed automotive supplier. For more than three decades, Aleks has worked across multiple industry sectors including the manufacturing/ industrial, infrastructure, building, financial services, and technology sectors and seeks to apply her extensive board and global M&A experience in service of corporate boards.
Aleks serves on the Board of Directors of Solid Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLDP), an all-solid-state battery cell developer and as Chair of its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and a member of its Compensation Committee. Aleks is also an Operator Advisor to Assembly Ventures, a global mobility and infrastructure venture fund as well as an advisor to OurOffice, a DEI software solutions provider. From March 2020 to November 2022, Aleks served on the Board of Directors of Tenneco Inc., a Fortune 500 global industrial supplier serving as Chair of its Nominating and Governance Committee and on its Compensation Committee (acquired by Apollo Funds).
Relying on her significant international M&A experience, Aleks was principally involved in Cooper Standard’s Asian growth strategy with Chinese and Korean domestic OEMs and executed a pivotal transaction establishing Cooper-Standard as the largest automotive sealing supplier in China in 2015. She led profit enhancement initiatives, including a European footprint optimization strategy resulting in significant improvement in forecasted EBITDA performance. Aleks also collaborated on leveraging proprietary technology to form a new nonautomotive business focusing on growth in sectors such as wire and cable and footwear through licensing of material science product and process innovations.
During her tenure at Cooper-Standard, Aleks also oversaw a successful transition in the shareholder base from hedge fund to institutional ownership as well as significant board refreshment. She spearheaded the integration of global ESG and enterprise risk management initiatives with the strategic planning process. As Chief Compliance Officer, Aleks drove the execution of a culture of integrity and ethics resulting in Cooper-Standard’s designation as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere in 2020.
At Dykema, Aleks originated significant client relationships, including Ford Motor Company (corporate work), Macquarie, Borg Warner, and EADS. She also led its first Automotive Industry Group establishing a disciplined revenue growth strategy to achieve a 28% increase in automotive revenues. In addition to leading global teams in connection with major M&A transactions, Aleks executed technology IPOs and capital raising initiatives for start-ups, including data network integration, hardware to software interface and electric vehicle technology platforms. Her work with Macquarie in its first US investment (Detroit-Windsor Tunnel) led Aleks to advocate the merits of public-private partnerships (P3s) at national P3 conferences as well as before the Michigan legislature and to organize the first Michigan P3 Summit in conjunction with the Detroit Regional Chamber and Deloitte.
Aleks worked at Dykema from 1982 to 2014 and at Cooper Standard from 2014 through 2019 when she began to transition toward corporate board related interests.
Born in the US to Polish immigrants, Aleks is fluent in Polish. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Wayne State University Law School. Among her nonprofit interests, Aleks recently completed a four year term as Chair and continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan and is a member of the International Women’s Forum. Aleks is a NACD Board Leadership Fellow.