Ford Motor Co. Names Jim Padilla Chief Operating Officer Along With Other Management Changes

DETROIT April 22, 2004; John Porretto writing for the AP reported that Ford Motor Co. has given oversight of its global automotive business to the executive largely credited with improving quality and profits in North America, part of a realignment of top management at the nation's second-largest automaker.

The biggest change announced Thursday is the appointment of Jim Padilla, president of the company's Americas region, as chief operating officer overseeing the worldwide auto business.

That title has been held by Nick Scheele, who will remain as president.

"Jim Padilla is all about results," said chairman and chief executive Bill Ford. "The company has made a swing of nearly $6 billion in profitability in the past two years, and much of that can be attributed to improved quality, greater customer loyalty and reduced costs in North America."

Bill Ford said the automaker's recent successes made the timing right to realign his senior management team. He referred to the shuffle not as a "shake-up" but as a "fine-tuning" because, he said, it involves current Ford executives. Padilla is 57 and Scheele is 60.

Greg Smith, who was running Ford Motor Credit Co., replaces Padilla as president of the Americas region.

The changes, which are effective immediately, come a day after Ford said its profit in the first quarter more than doubled from last year to $1.95 billion, beating the $1.3 billion earned by its bigger rival General Motors Corp. in the January-March period.

Ford cited much-improved automotive profits worldwide and continued cost cutting as the primary reasons for the growth. It also boosted its 2004 earnings forecast.

Among the other moves, the company said David Thursfield, president of Ford's international operations and global purchasing, will retire May 1. Thursfield, 58, will become a consultant to Bill Ford.

The company will split Thursfield's job between two people. Mark Fields will oversee Ford of Europe and the Premier Automotive Group, which includes the company's luxury brands. Mark Schulz will have the same responsibility for Ford's Asia Pacific and African operations.

Fields had been a group vice president and CEO of Premiere Automotive. Schulz was group vice president over Asia Pacific and will continue to be responsible for Ford's partnership with Mazda.

Bill Ford said he and Thursfield had been talking "for some time about when would be the right time to hang it up."

"This has been a rough job," Ford said. "The travel has been horrendous. The global reach he had was huge. That's why I split the job into two, frankly."

Padilla has led all operations involved in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles in North and South America. The Detroit native joined Ford in 1966 as a quality control engineer.

Bill Ford said Padilla has had a large role in executing a restructuring plan announced in January 2002 that called for eliminating 35,000 jobs -- 10 percent of the company's work force -- closing five plants and eliminating four models.

Ford lost more than $5 billion in 2001 and another $980 million in 2002 before rebounding with a profit of $495 million last year.

"Jim has delivered in perhaps the toughest job I've seen in my 25 years at Ford Motor Co.," Bill Ford said.

The company's results for the most recent quarter far exceeded forecasts from Wall Street analysts. Ford reduced costs by $600 million in the quarter, in large part because it was able to lower costs related to recalls and warranty expenses.

"It wasn't just the magnitude that was impressive," Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Chris Ceraso said in a research report Thursday on Ford's results. "It was a broad-based improvement, with best-since-2000 pretax profit in North America, black ink in Europe and nearly $1.1 billion of income from the finance company."

In another top management change, Lewis Booth, previously Ford of Europe's president and COO, takes over as chairman and CEO of Ford of Europe, reporting to Fields.