Ford Names Mark Fields New COO; Alan Mulally To Stay Through 2014

Mark Fields, Ford President of the Americas, further cemented his chances of becoming Chief Executive of Ford with the announcement of his promotion to the new position of Chief Operating Officer, effective December 1.

The announcement was made by Executive Chairman Bill Ford and Alan Mulally, the 67-year-old CEO whose retirement has been a topic of major speculation. Bill Ford also announced that Mulally, who orchestrated a financial, cultural, and product-led turnaround, will remain as CEO and President through at least 2014 and maybe longer. That would make Mulally the longest-tenured CEO of the company since Henry Ford II, who held the reins 34 years.

A reshuffled deck of regional leaders will report to Fields now, and the new COO will lead business plan meetings Mulally created after he joined the company in September 2006. The meetings were integral to Mulally’s success in shaking up a corporate culture of infighting and creating one of like-minded thinkers, including Fields.

Neither Bill Ford nor Mulally would say directly that Fields is being groomed to take over as CEO. But Ford repeated his assertion that he prefers the next leader come from within the company: "I’d be surprised if the next CEO didn’t come from inside."

Fields joined Ford in 1989 and his career has included assignments running Mazda in Japan, Ford of Europe, and the Premier Automotive Group that included a number of luxury brands that Ford no longer has. He became president of the Americas in 2005, a year before Mulally joined the company from Boeing.

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