Ford Beefs Up Global Management Team

Ford Beefs Up Global Management Team

By Michelle Krebs

Ford beefed up its global management team with the elevation of five executives to group vice president reporting directly to Ford CEO Alan Mulally and naming a chief operating officer in Europe.

Since his arrival more than 18 months ago, Mulally, a former Boeing executive, has said repeated like a mantra that he wants Ford to be a truly global car company a la Toyota, not a global carmaker made up of a disparate regional units.

Emphasis on Europe
Ford named Stephen Odell chief operating officer in Europe, reporting to Ford of Europe Chief Executive John Fleming. In a statement, Ford said the 53-year-old Odell will be responsible for Ford's product development and manufacturing in Europe starting April 1. Long an up-and-comer, Odell joined Ford in 1980 and has held positions at Mazda and Jaguar.

"Stephen has done an excellent job of reinvigorating our Marketing, Sales and Service functions since he returned to Ford of Europe,” Fleming said in Ford's statement Friday. “As we move into a more intensive phase of our global transformation, now is the right time to make more of Stephen’s extensive operational experience around the world. Giving him operational responsibility for Ford of Europe will help us raise our game as we take a prominent role in developing new vehicles globally.”

Ford of Europe is becoming increasingly important to the automaker. For starters, it's performing substantially better in sales and profits than Ford's North American operations.

It's also becoming the center of product development for some key global models, including the upcoming B-segment Fiesta, shown in concept form as the Verve. The small car goes on sale this year in Europe, comes to the U.S. in 2010 and will be sold in China as well as other world markets. Ford further plans to merge other future models, such as the midsize Ford Fusion in the U.S. with the Ford Mondeo in Europe.

At the same time, Ford is adjusting to the elimination of its luxury European marques that had been combined into the now-defunct Premier Automotive Group. That group once included Aston Martin, sold last year, as well as Jaguar and Land Rover, expected to be sold to India's Tata Motors by the end of this month. Volvo remains in Ford's stable.

Group Vice Presidents
Ford also elevated five corporate officers, giving them the title of group vice president and reporting directly to Mulally. They are Tony Brown, 52, previously senior vice president of global purchasing; Sue Cischke, 54, previously senior vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering; Bennie Fowler, 51, previously vice president of quality; David Leitch, 47, previously senior vice president and general counsel; Nick Smither, 49, previously vice president and chief information officer.

“The changes announced today will bolster an already top-notch leadership team at Ford Motor Company,” Mulally said in the company's statement. “At the same time that Ford of Europe is strengthening its operating leadership, we’re reducing management layers among our senior leaders with global responsibilities. This is a continuing part of our effort to reduce complexity and streamline our internal processes.” 

The Farley Hand?
It also appears Jim Farley, who was imported from Toyota to be Ford's global marketing executive, is having a hand in some recent appointments as he builds his global marketing staff.

Odell will be replaced by Ingvar Sviggum, 62, as vice president of marketing, sales and service of Ford of Europe. He starts April 1.

Earlier this week Ford named Anne Belec to director of global marketing for Ford, reporting directly to Farley. The 45-year-old Belec had headed Volvo's North American operations for three years, launching the C70, S80, C30, XC70 and V70 during that time.

She is replaced as president and CEO of Volvo in North America by Doug Speck. Speck, 48, joined Volvo North America in July 2006 and was named executive vice president of sales and marketing in March 2007. He held several positions at Ford, Jaguar and Land Rover since 1983. Before joining Volvo, Speck was CEO of the Premier Automotive Group in Australia and New Zealand.

While announcing these appointment, Ford also said it will move Volvo Cars and its 80 California employees back to Rockleigh, N.J., from Irvine, Calif., by year's end. Though some of its operations moved to California in 2001, Volvo maintained its service operations in New Jersey, which puts it three time zones closer to its Swedish headquarters.

"We have evaluated the situation in the U.S. market and decided to consolidate our headquarters operations in one location," Gerry Keaney, senior vice president of marketing, sales and service for Volvo Car Corp., said in a statement. "It is a natural choice to go back to Volvo Cars' original location in New Jersey as we already have major operations and facilities there."

Meantime, Farley had promised to lay out his global marketing plan sometime this month. No word if that is still on schedule.

Photos by Ford
1 — John Fleming, president and CEO Ford of Europe, unveils the new Ford Fiesta at the recent Geneva Motor Show.
2 — Stephen Odell is Ford of Europe's new chief operating officer.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.