Ford president/CEO announces retirement

(From left) Jim Hackett and Jim Farley

Ford Motor Co. has announced that Jim Hackett, who has led the company since 2017, plans to retire. Jim Farley has been named the new president/CEO and will join the board of directors effective Oct. 1.

Listen to the announcement (or download here):

The automaker reports that under Hackett’s leadership, it moved aggressively into the new era of smart vehicles and drove a deeper focus on customers’ wants and needs. At the same time, Ford improved the fitness of the base business by restructuring operations, invigorating the product portfolio, and reducing bureaucracy, says the company.

Farley joined Ford in 2007 as global head of marketing and sales and went on to lead Lincoln, Ford South America, Ford of Europe, and all Ford global markets in successive roles. In April 2019 he was chosen to lead the automaker’s New Businesses, Technology & Strategy team, and he was named COO in February of this year. For the past three years, he has collaborated with Hackett to develop and execute Ford’s Creating Tomorrow Together plan.

Hackett will continue as a special adviser to Ford through March 2021.