Mark Fields to replace Alan Mulally as Ford chief executive

Ford Motor Co. said its Chief Executive Alan Mulally will retire July 1. The automaker chief operating officer Mark Fields will be named Ford president and chief executive and join Ford’s board of directors.

The transition was expected since late 2012, when Ford named Fields to his current position and put the New Jersey native in charge of day-to-day operations and leading the company’s weekly planning meetings.

Mulally, 68, will end a nearly eight-year tenure at the automaker during which the former Boeing Co. executive successfully guided Ford through the most severe industry decline since the Great Depression.

“Mulally will be seen as the man who saved Ford. He came in after a series of failed leaders that had allowed Ford’s products and position to deteriorate to a precarious position,” said Karl Brauer, an analyst at auto information company Kelley Blue Book.

Ford was the only U.S. automaker that avoided a bankruptcy reorganization and federal government bailout. It has had 19 consecutive profitable quarters.

Mulally is credited with creating the “One Ford” plan, which slashed the number of vehicle platforms used by the automaker globally and provided for greater sharing of design and parts among models to improve quality and cut costs.

“Under Alan’s leadership, Ford not only survived the global economic crisis, it emerged as one of the world’s strongest auto companies,” said Bill Ford, a member of the company’s founding family and its executive chairman. “Alan deservedly will be long remembered for engineering one of the most successful business turnarounds in history,” he said.

The transition to Fields, 53, is coming six months earlier than the company had anticipated. Mulally recommended that the automaker speed up the timetable.
“Alan and I feel strongly that Mark and the entire leadership team are absolutely ready to lead Ford forward, and now is the time to begin the transition,” said Ford, who recruited Mulally from Boeing in 2006 and has put a priority on orderly executive transitions.

“Mark -- supported by an experienced and dedicated senior leadership team -- is absolutely the right leader to continue to deliver on our compelling vision,” Mulally said.

Fields, who has spent 25 years at the company, is well positioned to succeed Mulally, Brauer said.

“In recent years Mark Fields ran operations and cut costs at Ford while serving as a key advisor to Alan Mulally,” Brauer said. “He’s been the favored successor to run Ford for several years because of his background and experience with the automaker.”