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{{short description|American businessman}}{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2018}}{{redirect|Bill Ford|other people of the similar name|William Ford (disambiguation)}}

factoids

|birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.|death_date = |death_place = |occupation = Executive Chairman of the Ford Motor Company|spouse = Lisa Vanderzee|children = 4|mother = Martha Firestone Ford|father = William Clay Ford Sr.Sheila Ford Hamp (sister)Henry Ford>Henry Ford I (great-grandfather)Edsel Ford I (grandfather)Henry Ford II (uncle)Edsel Ford II (cousin)Harvey S. Firestone (great-grandfather)Harvey S. Firestone Jr. (grandfather)Princeton University (Bachelor of Arts>BA)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS)}}William Clay Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is an American businessman, serving as executive chair of Ford Motor Company. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chair since January 1999.NEWS,weblink Get Briefed: William Clay Ford Jr., Zendrian, Alexandra, July 12, 2010, Forbes, September 25, 2017, en, WEB,weblink William Clay Ford Jr. {{!, Ford Media Center|website=media.ford.com|language=en|access-date=September 25, 2017}} Ford also served as the president, CEO, and COO until turning over those roles to former Boeing executive Alan Mulally in September 2006.NEWS,weblink CNN, September 5, 2006, Ford names new CEO, NEWS,weblink media.ford.com, Ford newsroom release display, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071015144114weblink">weblink October 15, 2007, Ford is also the vice chairman of the Detroit Lions NFL franchise.NEWS,weblink Detroit Lions, William Clay Ford jr – Biography, April 13, 2012, May 10, 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120510235135weblink">weblink dead, Ford serves as a chairman of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.WEB,weblink Binational Board of Directors {{!, United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce |website=usmcoc.org|language=en-US|access-date=September 21, 2017}}

Early life and education

Ford was born in Detroit, Michigan, the great-grandson of Henry Ford I and great-grandson of Harvey S. Firestone. His father was William Clay Ford Sr. and his mother is Martha Firestone. On his mother's side, his grandparents are Harvey S. Firestone Jr. and Elizabeth Parke. On his father's side, his grandparents are Edsel Ford I and Eleanor Lowthian Clay. Edsel Ford II, son of Henry Ford II and also a board member, is his first cousin. Ford has three sisters: Martha Morse (who has 3 children), Sheila Ford Hamp (who has 3 children), and Elizabeth Kontulis. He, like his great-grandfather Henry Ford, is of mainly Irish, English, and Belgian descent. Ford graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut in 1975.WEB,weblink Alumni Award: Previous Recipients, The Hotchkiss School, 2004, March 8, 2015, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150310133421weblink">weblink March 10, 2015, He then attended Princeton University and graduated with an A.B. in history in 1979 after completing a 105-page long senior thesis titled "Henry Ford and Labor: A Reappraisal."JOURNAL, Ford, Jr, 1979, Henry Ford and Labor: A Reappraisal,weblink While a student at Princeton, Ford was president of the Ivy Club and played on the Princeton rugby team. In 1984 he received an M.S. in management as a Sloan Fellow from the MIT Sloan School of Management.NEWS,weblink The MIT 150: 150 Ideas, Inventions, and Innovators that Helped Shape Our World, The Boston Globe, May 15, 2011, August 8, 2011,

Career

He joined Ford in 1979 and held a variety of positions, beginning in product development and on the financial staff, a grooming ground for future executives. He served several years as a mid-ranking executive in product development. He also briefly headed the Climate Control Division (since divested from the company as part of the Visteon spinoff). At the time of the Ford 2000 reorganization, he was in charge of heavy truck operations.

Corporate governance

Ford gave up an executive position in heavy truck program management to become chairman of the finance committee on the board of directors, a non-executive corporate governance position. He was elected chairman of the board in September 1998 and took office on January 1, 1999. Ford added the title of chief executive officer on October 30, 2001, following the ouster of then-CEO Jacques Nasser. With the retirement of Ford president and chief operating officer Jim Padilla in April 2006, Bill Ford assumed those roles as well. On September 5, 2006, Ford announced that he was stepping down as president and CEO, naming former Boeing senior executive Alan Mulally as his replacement. Ford continues as the company's executive chairman.At the time of his stepping down, Ford was ranked 264th on Forbes' list of top-earning CEOs, at $10 million per year."CEO Compensation" – 251-275 on Forbes.com's top-earning CEO's list. URL accessed September 6, 2006.WEB,weblink William Clay Ford Jr, CEO Compensation – Forbes.com, forbes.com, June 20, 2015,

Business developments

In 2000, he announced that the company would achieve a 25% improvement in fuel efficiency in the company's light truck fleet, including SUVs, by mid-decade.NEWS,weblink Ford Says Research Inspired New Push for Fuel Economy, Bradsher, Keith, July 28, 2000, The New York Times, August 8, 2017, en-US, 0362-4331, Under his direction, Ford Motor Company made technological progress toward improving fuel efficiency, with the introduction of the Hybrid Electric Escape, the most fuel-efficient SUV on the market, achieving 36 mpg (EPA) in city driving.Ford presskit display vehicle {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015031224weblink |date=October 15, 2008 }}. media.ford.com. The Escape's platform mates Mercury Mariner and Mazda Tribute were also scheduled to receive hybrid-electric powertrain options, along with other upcoming vehicles in the Ford product line including the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan. Ford announced that half of the vehicle lineup would be available with advanced hybrid-electric powerplant options by 2010, although the Company's earlier pledge to build 250,000 hybrid vehicles a year by 2010 proved to be overly optimistic and had to be abandoned. Ford also continued to study Fuel Cell-powered electric powertrains and demonstrated hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine technologies, as well as developing the next-generation hybrid-electric systems. In addition to the Ford Escape, Hybrid Escape, Mercury Mariner, and Mazda Tribute, Ford marketed high efficiency crossover SUVs such as the Ford Freestyle, the Volvo XC70 and the Volvo XC90. Ford also developed new crossover SUVs, such as the Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX, and Mazda CX-7.Ford expanded its lineup of flexible-fuel vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles, and dual-fuel vehicles. Flexible fuel vehicles can operate on a range of fuel mixtures – such as ethanol-gasoline blends ranging from pure gasoline to E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline). Alternative fuel vehicles operate on non-petroleum fuels, such as methanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), propane, and hydrogen. Dual fuel vehicles generally have two fuel tanks – one for compressed natural gas or propane, and another for regular gasoline – with a selector switch to choose between them. Vehicles using those fueling alternatives were in test fleets, for example as taxis and shuttle buses, and some were available for sale to the public. Ford was committed to sell 250,000 alternative and flexible fuel vehicles – the majority of which would be designed to operate on ethanol-gasoline blends such as E85 – in 2006.Innovation technology ethanol Capable Vehicles {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060715134340weblink |date=July 15, 2006 }}. ford.com.Speaking at conference in November 2000 in London, Ford suggested that the company might one day offer a service where it owns vehicles and makes them available to people when they need access to them.NEWS,weblink The Motown missionary, The Observer, November 12, 2000, April 1, 2008, London, Terry, Slavin, Market competition, health care, and raw material costs led Ford to announce a second restructuring for its North American operations in four years. Ford's restructuring plan, dubbed "The Way Forward", reversed a $1.6 billion loss during 2009 in its North American operations. The company returned to profitability in 2010.WEB,weblink Media.Ford.com: FORD MOTOR COMPANY REPORTS 2005 NET INCOME OF $2 BILLION, PROFITABLE FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR, June 28, 2006, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060614061604weblink">weblink June 14, 2006, . media.ford.com.

Fontinalis Partners

Ford has been a vocal advocate for improvements to be made in all modes of global transportation, having stated that governments and private industry would need to rethink transportation infrastructure and technology as the global population expands and the existing infrastructure is unable to keep pace.NEWS,weblink The Wall Street Journal, Joseph B., White, Bill Ford Warns of 'Global Gridlock' (Video), March 3, 2011, In January 2010, he announced the launch of a strategic investment firm, Fontinalis Partners, with the purpose of investing in innovative companies developing next-generation mobility solutions.{{clarify|date=July 2018}} Ford co-founded the firm with Ralph Booth (Chairman and CEO of Booth American Company and a media and telecom investor), Mark Schulz (former head of Ford Motor Company's international operations), Chris Cheever, and Chris Thomas.NEWS,weblink CNN, Today in Tech,

Personal life

Ford is married to Lisa Vanderzee Ford, and they have four children.NEWS, Sherrill, Martha, The Buddha of Detroit,weblink September 24, 2017, The New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2000, He is first cousin to Alfred Ford.Ford has been a vegetarian since 1990, and adopted a vegan diet in 2010.NEWS, Hancock, Edith, 17 powerful people you didn't know were vegan,weblink September 24, 2017, Business Insider, November 1, 2016, en,

See also

• Ford family tree

References

External links

• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110805072303weblink">Fontinalis Partners Biography
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060131005930weblink">William Ford Jr.'s campaign contributions
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060503164430weblink">Bill Ford's The Way Forward speech – 23 Jan 2006
• The Fords go into Reverse – by John Lippert and Bill Koenig A lengthy Bloomberg article (2007) profiling Bill Ford and the 81-member family.
• {{TED speaker|2=Bill Ford}}
• {{C-SPAN|1012421}}

{{Henry Ford}}{{Ford Motor Company}}{{Authority control}}