Unger received the award from L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County Executive, on Friday, September 13th at Automation Alley’s 2002 Awards Gala held at the Troy Marriott in Troy, MI. Unger was named senior vice president and chief information officer for DaimlerChrysler AG in November 1998. She is responsible for directing systems and computer hardware strategy and planning, systems applications development, data center operations and telecommunications network operations for DaimlerChrysler worldwide. Unger joined Chrysler in September 1972 as a finance analyst in Sales and Marketing and has held various positions in Finance and Product Development before moving to the Information Services Group in 1993. Unger is a member of the Research Board and a board member for the Eli Broad Board in the College of Business at Michigan State University, University of Michigan College of Engineering National Advisory Committee, the Oakland University (Mich.) Advisory Technology Board, Automotive Women’s Alliance and Cyber-State.org. She was recently named “CIO of the Year” by Salomon Smith Barney, “2002 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year” by Wayne State University, and was listed as one of Detroit’s “Most Influential Women in 2002” by Crain’s Detroit Business. Automation Alley is a consortium of high-tech businesses and organizations in southeastern Michigan. Conceived in 1998, the Automation Alley consortium helps member companies gain competitive advantages in productivity, innovation and growth. This consortium is the first public/private partnership driven to develop Automation Alley as one of the country's premier technology corridors.