Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) announced today the election of John S. Weinberg to the company’s board of directors, effective 1 October. Weinberg, 59, is a retired vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group, a Wall Street firm for the elite. While at Goldman Sachs, he worked with Ford for more than 15 years, serving as a financial advisor. Weinberg will sit on the Ford Board of Directors’ Nominating and Governance, Sustainability and Innovation, and Finance Committees.
In what could be termed as insider trading among the old boy’s network (or just smart business?), Weinberg’s grandfather helped take Ford Motor public in 1956. Weinberg’s father, John L. Weinberg, was a senior partner and chairman of Goldman Sachs from 1976 to 1990. He worked his way up from the top <grin>.
Goldman Sachs, of course, has prohibited top execs from contributing to the campaign of Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton is approved. Hum… Might there be a connection when then President Bill Clinton pushed through Congress a giant loophole on maximum CEO pay? Then there’s the (resulting?) speaking fees to Bill or Hillary, and contributions to the “non-profit” Clinton foundation? Most of Wall Street contributed to this sleaze fest. To be fair this kind of influence peddling is common among both parties. However, working Americans – looking at the poles – are sick of it. Worse in multiple polling, the majority of both parties loathe their own presidential candidates
Clinton Fees
Bill Clinton made $2,690,000 for speeches that he gave to corporations and groups after his wife started her presidential campaign last April. They earned $6.725 million in speaking fees last year, according to a financial disclosure released by the Clinton campaign last May.
Going further back into the past, the Bill/Hill combo gave 729 speeches from February 2001 until May 2015. That’s an average of $210,795 for each address. The former first couple – or is that first fund raisers – also reported at least $7.7 million for ~39 speeches to big banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS. Hillary Clinton during that time made at least $1.8 million for speeches to big banks.
Bill Ford on Weinberg
“Having worked with him for many years, John is a trusted advisor with a deep understanding of Ford, our history and the future needs of our business,” said Executive Chairman Bill Ford.
Weinberg’s career spans more than three decades at Goldman Sachs, most recently serving as vice chairman from June 2006 until October 2015. He spent the majority of his career in the banking division, most recently as a head of global investment banking and as an advisor to clients including Ford, General Electric and Boeing. He also led the Goldman Sachs team on the initial public offerings for Visa and Under Armour. Weinberg received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1979 and Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1983.
