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Rediff.com  » Business » Ford appoints Boeing's Mulally as CEO

Ford appoints Boeing's Mulally as CEO

September 06, 2006 17:59 IST
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US auto giant Ford Motor Company has appointed Alan Mulally as president and chief executive offer.

Mulally, 61, has spent 37 years at The Boeing Company, most recently as executive vice president. In addition, he has also been president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes since 2001.

Bill Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, the company's founder, will remain as executive chairman, the company statement said.

"One of the three strategic priorities that I've focused on this year is company leadership. While I knew that we were fortunate to have outstanding leaders driving our operations around the world, I also determined that our turnaround effort required the additional skills of an executive who has led a major manufacturing enterprise through such challenges before," Bill Ford wrote in an e-mail to Ford employees on Tuesday, company statement added.

Bill Ford, who said he would remain "extremely active" in the business, praised Mulally as "an outstanding leader and a man of great character."

On his appointment, Mulally said "I think the opportunity to work with Bill Ford and Ford Motor Company is the only thing that could have attracted me to a job other than Boeing, where I have so many great friends and memories."

Mulally noted that many of the challenges he encountered in commercial airplane manufacturing are analogous to the issues at Ford.  "I'm looking forward to working closely with Bill in the ongoing turnaround of this great company," he added.

Bill Ford, who led the company to three straight years of profitability through 2005, said that he looked forward to an excellent working partnership with Mulally on global strategic issues.

"Let me assure you, I'm not going anywhere," Bill Ford wrote to Ford workers. "As executive chairman, I intend to remain extremely active in the direction of this company. I'll be here every day and I will not rest until a prosperous future for this company is secured."

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