Andra Rush sells stake in Detroit Manufacturing Systems, steps down as CEO

DETROIT -- Andra Rush, who built Detroit Manufacturing Systems into a top-level auto supplier with $1 billion in annual revenue, has stepped down as CEO and sold her majority share in the company.

The buyer and new CEO is Bruce Smith, the 55-year-old co-owner and CEO of sheet metal tooling maker BTM Co. LLC in Marysville.

A sale price was not disclosed and a spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, Rush said she has "a new chapter in my life to pursue" and will work with her successor as the company goes through the transition. She started the tier-one supplier as a joint venture with French supplier Faurecia Interior Systems Inc. in 2012. It has grown from 25 employees to about 1,000 in Detroit and 200 in Toledo.

Rush maintains her ownership in Rush Group LLC, Dakkota Integrated Systems LLC, Rush Trucking Corp. and Rush Supply Chain Management. She was among Crain's Detroit Business Most Influential Women in 2016. Crain's is an affiliate of Automotive News.

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Smith -- with executive leadership experiences from Elyria and Hodge Foundries in Elyria, Ohio, Piston Group in Redford and Lear Corp. subsidiary Guildford Mills Inc. -- said he has big shoes to fill. The company ranked third on Crain's list of largest minority-owned businesses last year.

"I've spent a number of years in private equity and I'm used to coming into companies that are on their deathbed, so for the first time I feel like I have a tailwind," Smith said in the release. "My task is to take something great and make it even better."

Smith has a mechanical engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard University.