Ford S&L; Unit Names Lackovic as Chairman

First Nationwide Financial has elected Robert E. Lackovic, 55, chairman and chief executive, filling the post vacated several months ago by Anthony M. Frank, who resigned to become U.S. postmaster general.

First Nationwide Financial, based in San Francisco, is a subsidiary of Ford Motor and the parent company of First Nationwide Bank, the nation’s sixth-largest savings and loan. Lackovic, who has been with First Nationwide for 15 years, had been president and chief operating officer. Succeeding him in that job is John M. Devine, 44, who formerly was controller of Ford Motor’s truck operations.

Lackovic was openly critical recently about the exclusive negotiations conducted by federal thrift regulators that eventually led to the Sept. 5 agreement to sell American Savings & Loan to Texas investor Robert M. Bass. Lackovic argued that the exclusivity clause prevented regulators from getting the best price for American Savings--an institution that First Nationwide has been trying to acquire for more than a year.