Cleveland, Ohio – Ford Motor Co. on Monday named Jim Hackett as the company’s president and CEO, ousting Mark Fields from the role. Here are some things to know about Hackett.
1. Close friend of Ford Chairman Bill Ford
During a conference call with analysts and reporters Monday, Hackett says he and Ford see the world in a very similar way, and they have admired each other for many years. He described introducing Bill Ford to a crowd for a TED talk, in which he called the grandson of the automaker’s founder as a hero for his work in pushing the company to be more environmentally friendly and forward looking.
Bill Ford says he chose Hackett because of his ability to be a futurist and a nuts-and-bolts manager.
2. Longstanding CEO of Steelcase furniture
When Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Steelcase named Hackett CEO in 1994, he was 39 years old, and he stayed I that position for nearly 20 years.
In describing Hackett’s success at Steelcase, Bill Ford said he was able to grow and transform the company into a global leader, and he was able to guide it through the 2008-2009 recession, calling it “even worse” for furniture companies than the auto industry.
3. Ran Ford Smart Mobility LLC
Bill Ford tapped Hackett to run the startup mobility think tank that the automaker launched last year. Ford Smart Mobility’s roles was to accelerate plans to design, build, grow, and invest in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience, and data and analytics.
In March, 2016, Mark Fields, the executive who Hackett replaced as president and CEO, said, “Our plan is to quickly become part of the growing transportation services market, which already accounts for $5.4 trillion in annual revenue. Jim Hackett is the right visionary leader – with extensive experience in business development and design – to take us into the mobility services business in the future.”
4. College football mover and shaker
A member of the University of Michigan’s football team in the early 1970s, Hackett returned to the school in 2014 to act as athletic director while the school sought a permanent replacement. During his time running the athletics department, his focus was on rebuilding the football team.
In the Ford conference call, Bill Ford noted that Hackett’s decision to focus so much attention on the football program showed that he understood the needs of running existing parts of a legacy business, not only on looking at the future.
Hackett helped recruit former NFL head coach Jim Harbaugh to run the Michigan football program.
About the author: Robert Schoenberger is the editor of Today’s Motor Vehicles and a contributor to Today’s Medical Developments and Aerospace Manufacturing and Design. He has written about the automotive industry for more than 17 years at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio; The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky; and The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.