Barb Samardzich will take over product development duties for Ford of Europe.
Ford Motor Co. has named Barb Samardzich, vice president, Global Product Programs, to the position of vice president product development of Ford of Europe, effective Sept. 1.
The 52-year-old Ford veteran becomes the first woman to take on such a senior product development role for the Dearborn automaker – though rival General Motors moved a step ahead by naming Mary Barra its global product chief earlier in the year.
In her new post, Samardzich will oversee all Product Development activities in the European region – but because of the increasingly global nature of Ford’s operations, she will have a direct impact on products – such as the Ford Focus and C-Max – that are filling the maker’s line-up worldwide.
“Barb’s leadership, extensive engineering background and previous experience in Europe will be critical in leading the Product Development team in this period of growth as we launch at least 20 new or significantly freshened vehicles between 2011 and 2013,” said Stephen Odell, chairman and CEO, Ford of Europe.
The new European PD chief will report to Odell, as well as Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Global Product Development.
In addition to the Ford of Europe Product Development team, Samardzich will continue to lead Ford’s Global Vehicle Engineering, Noise Vibration and Harshness, and Global Vehicle Evaluation and Verification teams – a triple role she was assigned to last January.
“Barb’s appointment strengthens the leadership of our European team at a critical time as we develop the high-quality, fuel-efficient, safe and innovative vehicles our customers want and value,” said global product czar Kuzak.
In her new role, Samardzich replaces Frank Davis, who recently took on a new North American assignment.
She has held several leadership roles in the product development organization during her career, including serving as vice president of Powertrain Engineering. During her career, Samardzich also served as executive director of small front- and rear-wheel-drive vehicles, and was chief engineer for Ford’s Automatic Transmission Operations.