Swift Retires as Ford Controller; Hansen, Acton, Ross, Macdonald to New Posts
15 September 2000
Swift Retires as Ford Controller; Hansen, Acton, Ross, Macdonald to New Posts
DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 15 William Swift, vice president -
Controller at Ford Motor Company , will retire at year's end after a
35-year career at Ford.
To replace Swift, Ford's Board of Directors has elected Lloyd E. Hansen as
vice president - Controller. He will report to Henry Wallace, group vice
president and chief financial officer.
In addition, the Board has appointed Elizabeth Acton as vice president -
Treasurer, also reporting to Wallace, and Dennis Ross as vice president -
General Counsel, reporting to John Rintamaki, group vice president and chief
of staff. Malcolm Macdonald, formerly vice president - Treasurer, was named
vice president - Finance and Treasury Matters, a new position reporting to
Wallace. The appointments are effective Oct. 1.
"Bill Swift has made outstanding contributions to Ford Motor Company,"
said Jac Nasser, president and chief executive officer. "His drive, broad
business perspective and financial acumen made him a crucial member of the top
leadership team of the company."
Swift, 57, began his Ford career in 1965 as an accountant in the staff
accounting department. He held a series of positions on the Finance staff
until 1981, when he joined Car Product Development as assistant controller for
product analysis. In 1984, Swift became project director of business strategy
for Corporate Strategy and Analysis. Since then, he has held finance
positions of increasing responsibility. He assumed his current position in
1999.
Hansen, 52, will assume his new post after having served, since 1998, as
controller, Marketing and Sales Operations. His previous post, held from 1994
to 1998, was controller, U.S. Marketing & Sales. Prior to that he worked as
director of finance for Ford Asia-Pacific Automotive Operations. Hansen, who
holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Brigham Young University and an
MBA in finance from Northwestern, joined Ford in 1972 as a financial analyst
in the controller's office in Product Development.
Ms. Acton, 49, has been serving as executive vice president, Finance, and
chief financial officer at Ford Motor Credit Company since 1998. A 1973
graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she majored in psychology, Ms.
Acton earned an MBA in finance in 1976 at Indiana University and joined Ford
in 1983 as a financial analyst in the Treasury department. Assignments
involved international financing, portfolio and foreign exchange management,
cash-flow forecasting, corporate finance and pension asset management. She
was assistant treasurer for Ford before moving to Ford Credit.
Ross, 49, has been the chief tax officer for Ford, a post he has held
since joining the company in 1995. He will continue to be responsible for tax
affairs as Ford's new general counsel. Ross was a tax partner at the law firm
Davis Polk and Wardwell in New York from 1989 to 1995. He served as tax
legislative counsel and deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Treasury
Department's Office of Tax Policy from 1986 to 1989. He holds a bachelor's
degree and a law degree from the University of Michigan.
Macdonald, 60, assumes the new Finance and Treasury Matters post after
serving as Treasurer since 1995. He was assistant treasurer from 1981 to 1995
and served in many international posts. Macdonald joined Ford of Britain as a
finance trainee in 1959. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.