Blue Bird Corporation on April 4 appointed Simon J. Newman to the company's Board of Directors.

Newman has more than 40 years of leadership experience in the fields of precision-engineered manufacturing, executive strategy and commercial relationships. He joins the Blue Bird Board currently serving as chairman of MW Industries, including MW Components, a global component manufacturer for the automotive, aerospace, electronics and energy industries, as well as Paragon Medical, a global industry leader in medical device manufacturing.

Newman previously held the position of chief executive officer for Form Technologies for 18 years. He began his career with the Dynacast organization, now a Form Technologies division, in 1979 as an apprentice in the United Kingdom, progressively working through the company in all facets of operations leading to a long and prolific tenure as the group chief executive.

“Simon’s deep manufacturing and strategic leadership experience is highly relevant as we continue to build on Blue Bird’s nearly century-old leadership in school bus manufacturing,” said Matthew Stevenson, president and CEO of Blue Bird Corporation. “Blue Bird school buses carry the most precious cargo in the world. Therefore, we continuously improve the safety, reliability and durability of our vehicles while leading the way to low- and zero-emission student transportation in North America. We look forward to Simon’s contributions and extend a warm welcome to him as he joins our Board of Directors.”

Newman also serves on the boards of MW Components, Paragon Medical, Elgen Manufacturing, and Chromalloy. He received a bachelor of science degree in Operations Management from California Coast University.