Ford CEO Mark Fields ousted

By BLOOMBERG | 22 May 2017


Fields.


DETROIT: Ford Motor Co. is replacing embattled chief executive officer Mark Fields with Jim Hackett, a turnaround specialist who has been leading the automaker’s moves into self-driving cars and ride sharing, according to a person familiar with the move.

The company plans to announce today that Fields, 56, is retiring and Hackett will move up from his position as head of Ford’s Smart Mobility unit, said the person, who asked not to be identified revealing internal plans. The company can’t confirm any media speculation, a representative at Ford China’s communications department said by phone in response to an earlier Forbes report on the executive changes.

Hackett, 62, revived the fortunes of office furniture maker Steelcase as CEO from 1994 to 2014 and his promotion indicates Ford is looking to seize on that expertise as consumer demands change. Field’s departure comes amid a more than 30 percent plunge in Ford’s stock since Fields took the helm on July 1, 2014, and shareholders have assailed management over the strategy at the company, which announced a voluntary job-loss programme last week.

Hackett.
Hackett.


Ford also is ousting Fields’s communications chief Ray Day and replacing him with Mark Truby, a former newspaper reporter who had most recently been leading Ford’s communications in Asia, the person said.

Hackett, who joined Ford’s board of directors in 2013, was appointed in March 2016 as chairman of Ford Smart Mobility, according to his profile on the company’s website. The unit was formed to accelerate Ford’s foray into emerging mobility services.

Fields has been under scrutiny by Ford’s board, which scheduled extra meeting time to drill him on his plans for reversing the company’s fortunes, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The 56-year-old CEO has been pouring billions into self-driving cars and ride-sharing experiments as its traditional-car business has struggled far more than at General Motors Co. in a slowing US market.

Fields joined Ford in July 1989 and helped the its businesses through several tough situations before he was named to the top job in July 2014, replacing Alan Mulally.

Keywords