Ford Pres. Mark Fields during an appearance at the newly renamed Flat Rock Assembly Plant on Monday.
Mark Fields, currently Ford Motor Co.’s President of the Americas, may take a giant step closer to becoming the maker’s next chief executive this week.
The automaker’s board of directors is expected to name the 51-year-old Fields to the new post of Chief Operating Officer, the final step before the New Jersey-born executive could replace highly-regarded CEO Alan Mulally.
Such a move has been widely anticipated, though the timing was unclear. Ford normally does not comment on the timing of board meetings nor the actions on the agenda though a promotion at such a senior level would have to immediately be reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
A former top Boeing executive, Mulally has been widely credited with turning things around for Ford which, just prior to the recent recession, mortgaged all its key assets, including plants and the “Blue Oval” logo, to raise enough cash to avoid a collapse. The strategy worked, Ford being the only one of the three Detroit automakers to avoid a bankruptcy and federal bailout.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally is widely expected to retire at the end of 2013.
Though 67, the boyish-looking Mulally remains fit and active and has insisted he will stay on as long as the Ford board wants him to – and as long, he has said, as he is “having fun.” But he has also indicated the succession process is underway and, six years into his term, insiders say it’s time to take the next step.
A report by the Bloomberg news service indicates that while Mulally is not likely to step aside until the end of next year, the succession plan will move ahead with Fields’ promotion. By creating the new COO position it gives Mulally, Ford non-executive Chairman Bill Ford, Jr. and the board one last chance to judge Fields’ mettle – and weigh the potential of several other candidates.
Among those are:
- Joe Hinrichs, currently the head of Ford’s fast-growing Asian operations. Popular within Ford, he is nonetheless considered a little too young, yet, to take on the CEO role;
- Stephen Odell, the president of Ford of Europe. But the British-born exec is in the midst of the struggle to turn around Ford’s money-losing European operations;
- Jim Farley, the global head of marketing, is considered a long shot and though he could be a critical lieutenant to the next CEO, Farley is not a serious contender.
There is also the option, Mulally and others have suggested, that Ford could turn to an outsider – as the maker did in 2006 when it recruited the current CEO from Boeing.
Outsiders have traditionally fared poorly in top automotive jobs, however, notes analyst Joe Phillippi, of AutoTrends Consulting. “It’s a very different business,” he cautioned, from just about anything else in the industrial world.
Bob Nardelli, the short-time chairman of Chrysler left ignominiously when the maker plunged into bankruptcy in 2009. Seen early on as a top prospect to become CEO, one-time General Motors President Ron Zarrella – recruited from the consumer goods world — eventually left in failure. GM’s current Chairman and Chief Executive Dan Akerson has been controversial in his post and has yet to prove to critics – or investors – that he is up for the job.
Fields, meanwhile, has worked his way up through a series of assignments at Ford since joining the company in 1989. Among his more challenging assignments he served as Ford’s designated CEO at Mazda Motor Co., in 1998, while the U.S. maker oversaw the Japanese maker’s revival. At just 38, he was not only one of the few foreigners but also the youngest person ever to run a major Japanese company.
In his latest post, Fields has been in charge of Ford’s critical North, Central and South American operations. They have posted a substantial turnaround under his control, home market earnings now helping offset the anticipated loss of $1 billion analysts expect from Ford of Europe this year.
“Mark is a bright and talented man who has the smarts to take on the CEO job,” said a high-ranking industry executive and former confidante to Ford Chairman Bill Ford. “The challenges he faces will be twofold: first, he has to make sure he can continue the OneFord strategy Mulally put in place, and two, he has to keep everyone onboard and willing to support him.”
Ford has traditionally been a highly politicized organization, company officials admit. Getting everyone to focus on the company’s prosperity, rather than the success of individual careers, was one of Mulally’s first challenges. And, to many, it has been one of his biggest successes, helping create a team that has matched in lockstep behind his turnaround strategy.