The head of Ford’s Automotive Components Holdings (ACH) unit, set up to sell off or close the former Visteon parts-making operations, is to retire.
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Al Ver, a Ford vice president, and ACH’s CEO and COO, leaves the automaker at the end of the year after 35 years.
He will be replaced by Bill Connelly, newly named chief executive officer for ACH though he retains his CFO responsibilities there.
Connelly will head the Ford-managed, temporary business entity comprised of former Visteon plants and facilities in the US and Mexico, as it continues preparing the operations for sale or closure by the end of 2008, Ford said in a statement.
“Bill has been with ACH from the start and knows the component businesses within the group, as well as the component industry,” Ford Americas president Mark Fields said in the statement.
“We continue to operate in a very challenging environment, and having Bill at the helm is reassuring to me and everyone on the team.”
Connelly, a US Marine captain, joined Ford’s finance staff in 1972 and has since held a variety of positions within finance, including controller of Ford’s North America automotive operations and the customer service division, and director of the investor relations department.
Ford noted that Connelly was instrumental in the negotiations to form ACH in 2005 and, as its CFO, had significantly reduced operating costs and helped to progress the restructuring plans.
Ver joined Ford in 1972 as a manufacturing process engineer at the Mount Clemens, Michigan, paint plant and held a number of engineering and manufacturing positions within Ford and its component operations during his career.
Prior to his ACH post, he was vice president of Ford’s advanced manufacturing engineering organisation.
“Al has consistently contributed to Ford’s engineering and manufacturing organisations throughout his career and most recently has done an outstanding job in leading ACH through its transition,” added Fields. “We wish Al and his family well.”
