At Magna he held key management positions including Executive Vice President of Engineering and R&D for the Corporation and Division General Manager where he launched the automotive interior trim business and initiated the development of new technologies resulting in over $1 billion USD in sales.  As Vice President of Product development he reported directly to the chairman of the board and founder of the company regarding new products and technologies. Most recently, at Magna, he played a key roll in locating and identifying new technologies to be used to create future innovative products for the company.

Dr. Benninger also held key management positions outside Magna as the Chief Operating Officer of the North American Operations of the Becker Group, a $1.5 billion privately held automotive interior systems supplier where Gary managed fourteen manufacturing plants and as the Chief Executive Officer of the publically traded Amerityre Corporation, a polyurethane tire developer and manufacturer.

Prior to joining Magna he worked for Ford Motor Company as a product engineering manager, where he was awarded the Society of Plastics Engineers and the Society of the Plastics Industry Grand Awards and for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a research scientist in the Energy Conversion and Materials Science Division of the Glenn Research Center.  He is the author of numerous technical papers and holds patents on disc brakes, radiators, air conditioning compressor clutches, tires and outdoor equipment.  He was a Captain in the U.S. Army Field Artillery.  Dr. Benninger holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Physics.