Retired Chairman of Yuasa Battery, Inc. to Address Graduates at
Albright College’s Accelerated Degree Completion Program Commencement
Information for Graduating Seniors and Families
Downloadable media photos available at www.albright.edu/news/press-photos.html
June 3, 2011
Reading, Pa. – Seventy-two graduates of the Albright College Accelerated Degree Completion Program will receive diplomas on Saturday, June 11, 2011. Diplomas will be presented by President Lex O. McMillan III, Ph.D. The ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. in Memorial Chapel at 13th & Union Streets.
P. Michael Ehlerman, retired chairman of Yuasa Battery, Inc., headquartered in Laureldale, Pa., will address the graduates.
After Ehlerman received a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1960, he began his career at General Electric in Chicago in its financial management program. In 1968, he joined Northwest Industries, Inc. in Chicago, which was formed during the merger of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway and the Philadelphia and Reading Company in the 1960s. In 1973, the company acquired General Battery Corporation, and in 1975, Ehlerman arrived in Reading, Pa., and was named vice president, accounting, of General Battery.
In 1987, General Battery was sold to Exide Corporation, and Ehlerman became director, executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer, administration. He was responsible for the sale of Exide’s industrial battery division to Yuasa and became president of Yuasa operations in the Americas in 1991.
In November 2000, when Yuasa sold most of its investment in the Americas, Ehlerman continued to manage the remainder as chairman of the Board until his retirement in 2007.
Ehlerman is active in the Berks County community and serves as an officer and director of many business and charitable organizations such as the Berks County Convention Center Authority, Berks Economic Partnership, Greater Berks Development Fund, Our City Reading, Reading Area Community College Foundation, Reading Eagle Company and Reading Hospital & Medical Center.
He has received numerous awards including Mary’s Shelter Guardian Award (2008), Richard J. Caron Award of Excellence (2002), Berks County Chamber of Commerce – Large Business Person of the Year Award (2001), Thun Award (2000), Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame Award (2000) and the Franciscan Award - Alvernia University (2000).
Albright’s Accelerated Degree Completion Program is designed for the working adult student to complete a bachelor’s degree in approximately 24 months while attending one evening per week. Since the program’s inception in 1997, Albright has expanded its program to nine regional classroom locations serving 10 counties throughout eastern and central Pennsylvania. Classes are held in Allentown, Bethlehem, Blue Bell, Exton, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Media, Pottstown and Reading. Albright’s Accelerated Degree Start Program allows students to jump start an undergraduate career and earn the general studies portion of a bachelor's degree in as little as two years, while working full time.
Founded in 1856, Albright College is a nationally ranked, private college with a rigorous liberal arts curriculum with an interdisciplinary focus. The College’s hallmarks are connecting fields of learning, collaborative teaching and learning, and a flexible curriculum that allows students to create an individualized education. Two-thirds of students graduate with dual/individualized majors in more than 200 different combinations. Albright enrolls about 1,660 undergraduates in traditional programs, another 800 adult students in accelerated degree programs, and 100 students in the master’s program in education. Albright College is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia.
