Dr. John McTague Will Retire at Year End as Ford's Chief Scientist

18 September 1998
Dr. John McTague Will Retire at Year End as Ford's Chief Scientist
    DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 18 -- Dr. John McTague has elected to
retire, effective Jan. 1, 1999, after serving the company for 12 years as its
vice president - Technical Affairs and previously as vice president -
Research.
    "John raised the technical consciousness of the company to a new and
higher level," said Alex Trotman, Ford chairman and CEO.  "He became the great
connector and integrator between research and the operations of the company
and 'joined the dots' so that research activities are now an integral part of
the company's operating processes."
    McTague has been responsible for the Ford Research Laboratory,
Environmental and Safety Engineering Staff and the Technical Strategy Office.
    Before joining Ford in 1986, McTague was Acting Science Advisor to
President Reagan and in 1990 he was appointed by President Bush to his Council
of Advisors on Science and Technology.  A physical chemist, McTague was
appointed deputy director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy,
becoming its acting director in 1986.
    "Informally we call him 'Dr. Science' because he discusses the automobile
business from his scientific point of view -- and with great humor -- and thus
makes meaningful contributions to the overall business," said Trotman.
    "John was the creator of the revitalized Henry Ford Technology Awards and
the Ford Technical Fellow award, both of which have made us even more aware
how important it is to encourage innovation and creative ideas from Ford
scientists and engineers and consistently apply them to the business."
    McTague earned a doctorate from Brown University in 1965.  He was a member
of the North American Rockwell Science Center in Los Angeles from 1964 to
1970.  He then joined the chemistry faculty of the University of California at
Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also was a member of the Institute of Geophysics
and Planetary Physics.
    During 1982-1983 he was chairman of the National Synchrotron Light Source
Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and adjunct professor
of chemistry at Columbia University.  He is a member of the Secretary of
Energy Advisory Board, vice chairman of the National Laboratories Operations
Board, and chairman of the Board of Overseers of Fermilab.  He serves of the
Boards of Raychem Corporation, Ballard Power Systems, the National Action
Council for Minorities in Engineering, the State of Michigan Strategic Fund,
and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
    McTague was born on Nov. 28, 1938, in Jersey City, N.J.  He graduated from
Georgetown University in 1960 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry.  He lives
in Ann Arbor, Mich.