Ford’s US head of marketing, sales and service, John Felice will retire on 1 February, 2015 and be replaced by Mark LaNeve, currently chief operating officer at Global Team Ford, the automaker’s global advertising and marketing agency.
LaNeve, 55, will report jointly to Joe Hinrichs, head of Ford’s The Americas region and to global marketing, sales and service chief Stephen Odell.
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“John has had a long and successful career as a key leader serving us around the world for more than 30 years,” said Hinrichs in a statement.
“Among his many contributions, John led the Ford brand revitalisation in the US, resulting in an unprecedented improvement in customer favourability, and was a strong advocate for our dealers, ensuring their participation in our business planning process and further strengthening our relationship with them.”
Felice joined Ford in April 1984. He has worked in a variety of management positions in the marketing, sales and service organisation in both the US and Asia Pacific including heading US Ford and Lincoln Sales, US Ford and Lincoln marketing, and Asia Pacific marketing, sales and service. While in Asia, he was president of Ford Thailand.
LaNeve will be responsible for all marketing, sales, service and dealer relations in the United States.
LaNeve was COO at Global Team Ford since August 2012. This included running Team Detroit, which serves the Ford brand in the US plus agency operations in London, São Paulo and Shanghai, as well as Hudson Rouge, the Lincoln agency in New York City.
LaNeve has nearly three decades of global sales and marketing experience in the automotive and insurance industries, having worked in senior roles at Team Detroit, General Motors, Volvo Cars and Allstate Insurance.
