Ford Motor Company has announced that Jim Hackett, who has led the company’s transformation since 2017, plans to retire from the company. Jim Farley, Ford’s Chief Operating Officer, has been named the company’s new president and CEO and will join the board of directors effective October 1st. Hackett, 65, and Farley, 58, will work together on a smooth leadership transition over the next two months.
Ford CEO Jim Hackett
Farley joined Ford in 2007 as global head of Marketing and Sales and went on to lead Lincoln, Ford South America, Ford of Europe, and all Ford global markets in successive roles. In April 2019, Farley was chosen to lead Ford’s New Businesses, Technology & Strategy team, helping the company determine how to capitalize on powerful forces reshaping the industry – such as software platforms, connectivity, AI, automation, and new forms of propulsion. He was named chief operating officer in February of this year.
Hackett, who will continue to serve as a special advisor to Ford through March of 2021, said the time is right to pass the mantle of leadership to Jim Farley.
Ford COO Jim Farley
“My goal when I took on the CEO role was to prepare Ford to win in the future,” Hackett said. “The hardest thing for a proud, long-lived company to do is change to meet the challenges of the world it’s entering rather than the world it has known. I’m very proud of how far we have come in creating a modern Ford and I am very optimistic about the future.”
“I have worked side-by-side with Jim Farley for the past three years and have the greatest confidence in him as a person and a leader,” Hackett said. “He has been instrumental in crafting our new product portfolio and redesigning our businesses around the world. He is also a change agent with a deep understanding of how to lead Ford in this new era defined by smart vehicles in a smart world.”
Jim Hackett and Jim Farley
“Jim Farley matches an innate feel for cars and customers with great instincts for the future and the new technologies that are changing our industry,” said Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman. “Jim’s passion for great vehicles and his intense drive for results are well known, and I have also seen him develop into a transformational leader with the determination and foresight to help Ford thrive into the future.”
“I am very grateful to Jim Hackett for all he has done to modernize Ford and prepare us to compete and win in the future,” Ford added. “Our new product vision – led by the Mustang Mach-E, new F-150, and Bronco family – is taking shape. We now have compelling plans for electric and autonomous vehicles, as well as full vehicle connectivity. And we are becoming much more nimble, which was apparent when we quickly mobilized to make life-saving equipment at the outset of the pandemic.”
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Comments
Good, Good Bye I got a great idea why don’t Jim Hackett take Jim Farley with him when he leave since neither where lead Ford or Lincoln well. The roll out of the Explorer and Aviator was Horrible, the MT82 transmission in the Mustang is Junk, and Continental is a Amateurs Joke try at building a Luxury Flagship. Nooope Neither are car people that never should have been there Bye Boyz
This is definitely one of the worst CEO in the history of the auto industry, should have never been hired in the first place. I hope Farley is not a clone of the inexperienced unqualified furniture guy. Otherwise this move becomes a joke.