Mark Fields confirmed as new Ford boss

Ford Motor Co has officially announced that Mark Fields will replace Alan Mulally as company CEO on July 1. Mulally has served at Ford for just less than eight years. The transition is approximately six months earlier than previously anticipated, following Mulally’s recommendation to accelerate the timetable based on the readiness of Ford’s leadership team

Fields, aged 53, currently Chief Operating Officer, has risen up through the Ford ranks over his 25 years at the company, including spells at Mazda and overseeing Jaguar when it was part of the Premier Automotive Group. Mulally will retire and won’t serve on the Ford board, according to reports.

Bill Ford, great grandson of Henry Ford and company executive chairman, said: “Alan’s commitment to positive leadership and working together, coupled with a relentless implementation of our One Ford plan, changed our culture in lasting and meaningful ways. Under his leadership, Ford’s status as one of the world’s leading automakers was restored, as evidenced by our 19 consecutive quarters of profitability.”

Under Mulally and the company’s One Ford plan for profitable growth, Ford has seen 19 consecutive quarters of profitability, developed the strongest product line-up in Ford’s history and embarked upon the company’s most ambitious global expansion in the past half-century.

“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. We always will be grateful to Alan for his leadership, compelling vision and for fostering a culture of working together that will serve our company for decades to come.”

Alan Mulally was recruited from Boeing, where he began his career as an engineer and eventually became vice-president of the aeroplane maker. His greatest achievement at Ford is seen as the far-sighted decision to mortgage all of Ford’s assets (including the Blue Oval badge) in 2006 for a £14 billion (Rs 142,142 crore) loan. This ensured that when the global economy was hit by the credit crunch, Ford did not fall into bankruptcy like its rivals Chrysler and General Motors, and so it didn’t require government bailouts.

Mulally also led the ‘One Ford’ programme, which saw the company divest itself of Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo and move to a policy of selling the same basic Ford models in all global markets.

Photograph (L-R): Alan Mulally, executive chairman Bill Ford and chief operating officer mark Fields.