Keeping with a family tradition…
Ford Motor Company has announced that Elena Ford is elected vice president and leader of the company’s new Global Dealer and Consumer Experience organization starting this March. Ford is the great-great granddaughter of Henry Ford and the granddaughter of Henry Ford II. Ford earned a bachelor’s degree in Business from New York University.
She previously was director of the company’s Global Marketing Operations. In the new role, Ford will report to Jim Farley, Executive Vice President, Global Marketing, Sales, Service and Lincoln.
The new Global Dealer and Consumer Experience organization is being created to “improve relations” with customers. This includes “global standards” and so-called “best practice sharing” for planning, training and customer interaction with dealers and within the company.
Ms. Ford has been keeping a low profile since her arrest and conviction for drunken driving in 2011 in Ferndale, Michigan, a Detroit suburb. She performed 240 days of community service and payed $1,518 in fines and court costs. However, she retained custody of her son who was in the Ford Explorer she was driving. Custody was part of a previous divorce settlement. Her new position apparently allows for a limited public role. Her grandfather, of course, was involved in a famous DWI incident that resulted in the “never, complain, never explain” quote from the Deuce, as HFII was known.
In addition, her new organization will be responsible for the Marketing, Sales and Service interface for Ford’s global order-to-delivery system, which is a company-wide effort to improve vehicle quality and delivery time from the factory to dealers and customers. Ford Motor said the goal is to streamline the company’s current multiple global IT systems for a new vehicle ordering and delivery process for customers and dealers.
“Our new Global Dealer and Consumer Experience organization is the next step in our One Ford plan for profitable growth,” Farley said.
Elena Ford previously was executive vice president of Ford Motor Credit Global Brand and Marketing, where she was responsible for sales support activities for Ford Motor Credit Company around the world. She was named to that position in August 2007.
Prior roles include: director, North America Product Marketing, Planning and Strategy; director, North American Product Marketing; director, Business Strategy, International Automotive Operations; director, e-Marketing and e-Solutions for ConsumerConnect; brand strategy manager in Ford’s Marketing Strategy and Brand Management group; truck brand communications coordinator; marketing communications specialist; car and motorsports communications coordinator; finance specialist in Ford Product Development; and brand strategy leader in Global Marketing.
Elena Ford joined the company in 1995. Before joining Ford Motor Company, she served as a senior account executive for Wells, Rich Greene Advertising in New York.
