Following the departure of former Ford CEO Mark Fields and the appointment of Jim Hackett to the position, Ford is continuing to revamp its leadership team. Behind the bombshell news of Fields’s ousting and Hackett’s welcoming were the appointments of Jim Farley, Joe Hinrichs, and Marcy Klevorn to the respective roles of executive vice president and president for global markets, executive vice president and president for global operations, and executive vice president and president for the Ford Smart Mobility subsidiary.
Now Ford is revealing more about the individuals who will report to this quartet of executives. Notably, Raj Nair (photo above) now holds the position of executive vice president and president of Ford North America, a good sign if you ask us because Nair notably served time on the engineering team for the 2005 Ford GT supercar and was a key figure in developing the latest GT. He also played major roles in performance products such as the Mustang, the Focus RS, and the F-150 Raptor. While autonomy may be the future of the automotive industry, Nair’s new role gives us hope that Ford’s North American operations won’t completely forfeit enjoyment behind the wheel on the way to our inevitable self-driving future. Helping shape that future will be Sherif Marakby, who will serve as the VP of autonomous vehicles and electrification. Marakby rejoins Ford after jumping ship last year to take on the role of vice president ofÂ...