Ford President to Step Down Amid Executive Realignment

Ford Motor Co. President Jim Padilla will retire July 1, becoming the latest manager to depart as Chief Executive William Clay Ford Jr. revamps his executive team and tries to end losses in North America.

Ford, 48, will assume the duties of Padilla, 59, the company said. The president’s post will remain vacant, spokesman Oscar Suris said. Also, a new operating committee will be formed, composed of Ford’s executive vice presidents and finance chief.

The move came after William Ford elevated two executives, Mark Fields, 45, and Anne Stevens, 57, to head the company’s North American auto operations last year.

“When Mark Fields and Anne Stevens took over, it was clear the baton had been passed to another generation,” said Maryann Keller, an independent auto analyst in Greenwich, Conn.

Padilla has worked at Ford for 40 years and as president has been responsible for the automaker’s worldwide operations.

Ford’s North American operations reported a pretax loss of $1.6 billion last year amid declining U.S. sales and market share. The company had net income of $2 billion because of profit from making car and truck loans.

Fields and Stevens both have the title of executive vice president, with Fields heading the company’s Americas unit and Stevens his deputy. The two supervised development of a plan announced in January to cut as many as 30,000 jobs by 2012 and close 14 North American manufacturing facilities.

Fields appears to be Padilla’s likely successor, said Jim Sanfilippo, a senior industry analyst at Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc. in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Executive turnover at Ford “continues to be a pattern,” said Dan Genter, president of Los Angeles-based RNC Genter Capital Management, whose $2-billion portfolio includes Ford bonds.

“They need to bring in some people from the outside, someone who is going to shake things up,” he said.

Since 2001, the company has had three North American auto chiefs, three chief financial officers and four North American marketing leaders.

Fields ran Ford affiliate Mazda Motor Corp. of Hiroshima, Japan, from late 1999 to 2002 and restored profit after cutting costs. Later, he supervised the company’s Ford of Europe and Premier Automotive Group units.

Shares of Ford rose 8 cents to $7.65. They have declined less than 1% this year after dropping 47% in 2005.