Ford announced management changes “to support the development of breakthrough electric vehicles at scale, strengthen its internal combustion product line and transform the company’s global supply chain management”.
Doug Field is named chief advanced product development and technology officer. In this expanded role, he will continue to oversee EV products, software and digital systems development, and advanced driver assistance, while also taking on design and vehicle hardware engineering.
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Lisa Drake, VP, EV industrialisation, will now also be responsible for manufacturing engineering as Ford ramps up to a run rate of 2m EVs per year by the end of 2026.
Chuck Gray, who was VP, EV technology, was named VP, vehicle hardware engineering.
Both Drake and Gray report to Field, as does Anthony Lo, chief design officer.
Four maangers with “Silicon Valley credentials” include Roz Ho, appointed chief connected vehicle software officer, who joins Ford next month from HP, where she was VP and global head of software.
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By GlobalDataPreviously, she served in several roles during 22 years at Microsoft. Ho will work closely with Jae Park, who recently joined Ford as VP, digital product design, after successful stints at Google and Amazon.
They join Sammy Omari, executive director of advanced driver assist technologies (formerly of Motional, a joint venture of Hyundai and Aptiv) and Rob Bedichek, executive director of platform architecture (formerly of Intel and Apple).
Jim Baumbick is also taking on additional responsibility as VP, product development operations, cycle planning and internal combustion engine programmes. He will oversee the development of all Ford Blue products, as
well as lead cycle planning, vehicle development engineering and product development operations. He will report to Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue.
John Lawler, Ford’s chief financial officer, will head the global supply chain organisation on an interim basis until a chief supply chain officer is selected. Jonathan Jennings, VP, supply chain, will also take additional responsibility for supplier technical assistance and quality. He will report to Lawler.
