Ex-Hyundai Exec Bound for Ford?
September 24, 2007

Hyundai Motor America has confirmed its chief operating officer, Steve Wilhite, has resigned, effective Monday.

Wilhite is rumored to be a candidate for a newly created post of chief marketing officer at Ford, according to trade journal Advertising Age.

Ford will not confirm if Wilhite will be appointed to the job or is in the running.

Wilhite started his automotive career at Ford and, before joining Hyundai, was senior vice president for global marketing for Nissan. He has also worked for Apple and Volkswagen, where he led the “Drivers Wanted” campaign and the launch of the new Beetle.

Ford paved the way for filling the job by announcing last week the November 1 retirement of Francisco (Cisco) Codina, Ford’s current top sales and marketing executive. Ford CEO Alan Mulally told a roundtable of reporters in August that marketing is one of his top priorities as he enters his second year as head of Ford.

Of course, Ford has shopped for a chief marketing officer before, interviewed, narrowed the field three years ago -– and then never filled the spot. It resurrected that search about six months ago.

Wilhite lasted at Hyundai just over a year, having been put in charge of the company’s strategic development, sales, marketing, communications, parts and service operational divisions and reports to the president and chief executive officer in August 2006. His replacement at Hyundai has not been named.

Hyundai has been a revolving door of executives -– or, as someone recently referred to Hyundai -– “the departure lounge.” Non-Korean American executives have found dealing with the company’s South Korean executives more than challenging. And Hyundai itself is challenged, with sales roughly flat for the year and its original forecast for 2007 U.S. sales pared back.

Hyundai is going to have to take a look at the situation. It’s going to soon run out of executives willing to work for the company.

Meantime, if Wilhite does join Ford, it will be interesting to hear what he has to say about rejoining a Big Three automaker and moving to Detroit. In an interview with AutoObserver at the Detroit auto show, Wilhite ranted about the decaying city.

Money talks, and he’ll be whistling another tune if he gets the top job at Ford.

Advertising Age reported that other names that have been floated as possible contenders for the Ford marketing post are: Jeri Finard, who stepped down in April as marketing chief of Kraft Foods; Randolph Baseler, who retired in April as vice president of marketing of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and worked there with Mulally; and Richard Stoddart, the former marketing-communications manager of Ford Division who joined Leo Burnett, Chicago, as president in 2005.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:57 AM under Commentary , Ford , Personalities , Rumors | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine