William Clay (Bill) Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company.

Background

He was born in Detroit, Michigan, the great-grandson of Henry Ford. His father was William Clay Ford, Sr., and his mother was Martha Parke Firestone, the granddaughter of Harvey Firestone. He graduated from Princeton University in 1979 and in 1984, received an MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Early Career

He joined Ford in 1979 and held a variety of positions -- notably beginning in the finance staff, a grooming ground for future executives, and several years as a mid-ranking executive in product development. He also briefly headed the Climate Control Division (sinced divested from the company as part of the Visteon spinoff). At the time of the Ford 2000 reorganization, he was in charge of heavy truck operations.

Corporate Governance

Ford gave up his executive position in heavy truck product management to become chairman of the finance committee, a non-executive corporate governance position, for several years before becoming Chairman. He also served as chairman of the board without the CEO title for some time before then-CEO Jacques Nasser was ousted. The ouster reflected significant differences in corporate values -- Nasser was known to be mostly about money and power, while Ford is noted for valuing people and tradition.

Notable acts and events

Bill generated a name for himself when he was serving only as Chairman and not CEO. On February 1, 1999 when the Ford Rouge Powerhouse had an explosion that killed several Ford employees, Bill Ford rejected the ideas of his advisors and rushed to the scene from Ford World Headquarters. One of his staff cautioned, "Generals don't go out to the front lines." Ford's retort: "Then bust me down to private." Ford stopped and gave a heart-breaking account of the explosion to roadside television crews.

In both 2004 and 2005 Ford has announced contribution of his performance-based stock bonuses to scholarship funds benefitting employees, and to charity.

According to news reports, Ford "is a tae kwon do blackbelt, a student of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism and a folk guitar player."

([1]). He is noted as an environmentalist.

External links

• Ford Motor Company Biography