autoevolution
 

Mark Fields Named Ford CEO and President

The Blue Oval officially announced that Alan Mulally will retire from Ford on the 1st of July after serving the company as CEO since September 2006. Mark Fields, Ford's chief operations officer since December 2012, will take his place as chief executive officer and elected member of the directors board.
Alan Mulally, Bill Ford and Mark Fields 1 photo
Photo: Ford
“From the first day we discussed Ford’s transformation eight years ago, Alan and I agreed that developing the next generation of leaders and ensuring an orderly CEO succession were among our highest priorities,” executive chairman Bill Ford said. “Mark has transformed several of our operations around the world into much stronger businesses during his 25 years at Ford. Now, Mark is ready to lead our company into the future as CEO.”

The newly appointed Fields has been leading all of Ford's global business operations and teams since 2005, his main tasks including product development, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing, sales and service. Before serving as COO, he filled the roles of execute vice president and president of the Americas. Before that, Fields guided the transformation of Ford Europe and formerly held European luxury brands (like Aston Martin), as well as the relaunch of Ford’s independent operations in Argentina and a major restructuring at Mazda.

“It is a true honor to lead this great company and this talented team into the future,” Fields said. “Under Alan’s leadership, we have seen the power of One Ford and what a culture of positive leadership and working together can accomplish. My commitment is to build on that success by accelerating our pace of progress.”

68-year-old Mulally is retiring after nearly eight years leading Ford, capping an impressive 45-year career at the Detroit car manufacturer. Credited as the mastermind behind the "One Ford" plan, he contributed with the development of a homogenous global model lineup.

“Alan deservedly will be long remembered for engineering one of the most successful business turnarounds in history,” Bill Ford said. “Under Alan’s leadership, Ford not only survived the global economic crisis, it emerged as one of the world’s strongest auto companies.”
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories