Top > Business > 2006 > September > 2006-09-07

Bill Ford Stepping Down as Ford Motors CEO

An American automaker already deep in transition and struggling to improve its financial situation - Ford Motor Company - has now received the news that CEO Bill Ford will be stepping down in favor of an executive from the airplane manufacturer Boeing, in the person of Alan Mulally. Bill Ford said Ford Motors "required the additional skills of an executive who has led a major manufacturing enterprise through such challenges before." Mulally, 61, was widely praised at Boeing for being a key architect of the resurgence of that company`s Commercial Airplanes Unit over the past couple of years.

Mulally was a top candidate for the CEO job at Boeing last year, but the company sought candidates from outside of the company instead, selecting aerospace industry veteran Jim McNerney, who was then 3M`s chief executive. Bill Ford will stay on at Ford as chairman, while Mulally will become both President and CEO of the long-struggling automaker.

Mulally`s Boeing recently lost out to Lockheed Martin in the competition to build NASA`s replacement for the space shuttle. In response to the announcement at Ford, Mulally said in a statement that "I recognize that Ford has a strong foundation upon which we can build. The company`s long tradition of innovation, developing new markets, and creating iconic vehicles that represent customer values is a great advantage that we can leverage for our future."