Ford U.S. Sales Exec Codina To Retire
September 20, 2007

Francisco Codina, Ford’s top sales and marketing executive, will retire on November 1, the automaker announced Thursday.

The retirement of Codina, better known as Cisco, comes as no surprise. 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.

The automaker, on and off, has searched inside and outside of Ford for a chief marketing officer. But none has ever been hired.

The 55-year-old Cuban-born Codina has been group vice president of North American marketing, sales and service since early 2006. He began his career at Ford in 1977. He has headed customer service and marketing for the Ford division and served as president of Ford of Argentina.

In other personnel moves, John Parker, head of Asia-Pacific and Africa, was promoted to executive vice president, an indication of the importance of his role in those growing markets. Parker is part of Mulally’s inner circle.

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