U.S. HISPANIC CHAMBER PRESIDENT IS NEW FORD SUPPLIER DIVERSITY LEADER

* Armando Ojeda, formerly president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will replace Renaldo Jensen as the new director of Ford Supplier Diversity Development. Jensen is retiring after a distinguished 27-year career with Ford.

DEARBORN, Mich., April 29, 2005 – Armando Ojeda, formerly president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will replace Renaldo Jensen as director of Ford Supplier Diversity Development (SDD).

Jensen is retiring later this year after 27 years with Ford. Since 1987, he led the company's supplier diversity program, which in 2004 purchased $3.7 billion in goods and services from 309 minority suppliers. Ford is one of only 12 corporations nationwide that spends more than $1 billion with minority-owned businesses.

"We are pleased to welcome Armando to lead one of the country's leading supplier diversity development organizations," said Tony Brown, senior vice president, Ford Global Purchasing. "He brings to Ford an in-depth knowledge of issues affecting minority suppliers in the domestic auto industry, and his service as a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce executive in Washington, DC and in Michigan will help to further advance our successful Supplier Diversity Development program."

Brown said Jensen grew supplier diversity at Ford to make it the program other Fortune 500 companies benchmark. "Ray is a tough act to follow," he said. "He gave visibility to supplier diversity development at Ford. He put it on the map."

David Lizarraga, chairman of U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's board of directors, said Ford is to be commended for appointing Ojeda to a very important role.

"Our organization regards this appointment as a recognition of the Hispanic business sector and its potential for increased participation by Hispanic entrepreneurs in corporate supplier diversity programs," Lizarraga said.

Ojeda joined the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in September 2004. He was responsible for advocating on behalf of the nation's 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses, delivering membership benefits and value added services to the 142-affiliated Hispanic chambers of commerce across the United States.

Prior to joining the U.S. chamber, he was executive director of the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a trade association that services 300 Hispanic-owned businesses and publicly traded Fortune 500 companies in the automotive, banking, business service, restaurant and pharmaceutical industries.

Before joining the Michigan chamber, he served as the Texas Regional director for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the nation's largest Hispanic scholarship-granting organization.

Previously, he was vice president, Prevention, Safety & Health for Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco. He also worked in communications at McDonald's Corp., Burson-Marstellar Worldwide Public Relations and General Motors Corp. in Detroit.

Ojeda graduated from Michigan State University by working as a broadcast journalist in a number