Ford Motor Company president and CEO Jim Hackett

FORD Motor Company has announced a massive clean out of its executive management structure, with former Steelcase boss Jim Hackett named as the new president and CEO, replacing Mark Fields who is retiring after three years at the helm.

The changes at the top are part of huge changes at the highest levels of the Blue Oval following investor concern over the company’s perceived failure to adapt to the changing automotive environment, specifically a more rapid move to electrified and autonomous vehicles.

The elevation of Mr Hackett, who was most recently chairman of Ford Smart Mobility LLC – a subsidiary created to push the company’s development of “emerging mobility services” – highlights Ford’s desire to be seen as a mobility company, similar to fellow US giant General Motors.

GM has been faster to adapt to the changing environment. It now sells a mass market EV – the Bolt hatchback – and has already set up car-sharing company Maven as well as being a major investor in the fast-growing ride-sharing company and Uber rival Lyft.

Ford said in a media release that Mr Fields elected to retire after 28 years with the company.

However reports leading up to the announcement said he was forced out of the role after shareholders complained at the annual shareholders meeting earlier this month about the value of Ford shares, which, according to The New York Times, have dropped by 40 per cent during Mr Fields’ tenure.

Ford’s global sales were 6,651,000 last year, marginally ahead of its 2015 tally of 6,635,000. In 2014, Mr Fields’ first year in the top job, sales dipped from 6,330,000 units the year prior to 6,323,000.

“Mark Fields has been an outstanding leader and deserves a lot of credit for all he has accomplished in his many roles around the globe at Ford,” Mr Ford said. “His strong leadership was critical to our North American restructuring, our turnaround at the end of the last decade, and our record profits in the past two years.”

Retiring Ford Motor Company president and CEO Mark Fields

The company said that Mr Hackett and Mr Ford will focus on three key priorities.

They include “sharpening operational execution” globally to enhance quality, product launches and market strategy, while addressing underperforming business units.

The second priority is to modernise Ford’s business with new techniques to encourage innovation, hasten decision making and boost efficiency. According to Ford this includes leveraging big data, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and advanced robotics.

Ford’s final priority is to transform the company “to meet future challenges”, ensuring it can succeed as consumer and societal needs change.

Ford Motor Company executive chairman Bill Ford praised Mr Hackett’s achievements in his previous roles and framed him as the right person to lead the company during a period of dramatic change for the industry.

“We’re moving from a position of strength to transform Ford for the future,” he said. “Jim Hackett is the right CEO to lead Ford during this transformative period for the auto industry and the broader mobility space. He’s a true visionary who brings a unique, human-centred leadership approach to our culture, products and services that will unlock the potential of our people and our business.”

Mr Hackett will be responsible for Ford’s global operations and its 202,000 employees.

Prior to his time with Ford Smart Mobility, Mr Hackett was a member of the Ford Motor Company board of directors from 2013 and sat on the company’s Sustainability and Innovation as well as the Nominating and Governance committees.

He was the CEO of office furniture company Steelcase for 20 years until February 2014 and was credited with transforming the company from a “traditional manufacturer to industry innovator,” having predicted the shift in the office landscape from cubicles to an open space environment.

Mr Hackett was the interim director of athletics at the University of Michigan from late 2014 to March 2016.

New beginnings: Incoming Ford Motor Company president and CEO Jim Hackett with executive chairman Bill Ford.

Ford also announced a new operational structure consisting of three leaders that will report to Mr Hackett.

Jim Farley, who was until now the executive vice-president and president of Ford of Europe, Middle East and Africa, has been appointed as the executive vice-president and president of global markets, overseeing The Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific, meaning he will have ultimate responsibility for the Australian market.

Mr Farley will also take the reins of the Lincoln Motor Company and lead global marketing sales and service.

Executive vice-president and president of The Americas Joe Hinrichs moves to the role of executive vice-president and president of global operations, overseeing Ford’s global product development, manufacturing and labour affairs, quality, purchasing, and sustainability, environmental and safety engineering.

Mr Hinrichs will be responsible for Ford’s product development units, including the Asia Pacific centre in Victoria that employs about 1750 staff and has led the development of models including the Ranger and Everest.

Ford Motor Company executive vice-president and president of global markets Jim Farley

Marcy Klevorn moves from group vice-president, information technology and chief information officer, which she only started in January this year, to executive vice-president and president of mobility, taking over from Mr Hackett’s role as the head of Ford Smart Mobility.

These roles will be effective from June 1 and Ford says the replacements for Mr Farley, Mr Hinrichs and Ms Klevorn will be announced down the track.

Other changes include the appointment of former Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa communications boss Mark Truby as vice-president, communications, replacing Ray Day who will retire next year.

Paul Ballew has been named as the new global chief data and analytics officer, reporting to Ms Klevorn.

Ford announced last week that an unspecified number of jobs would be lost in Australia as part of a plan to cut its North American and Asia Pacific salaried workforce by 10 per cent.

The cuts impact about 1400 white-collar workers in both regions and Ford Australia is in the process of determining the number of local staff that will be made redundant.

Ford said last week that the job cuts would not hit employees working in Ford’s product development units.

It is unclear if the personnel changes will have an impact on the job cuts and whether that could now impact the Victorian product development operation.

By Tim Nicholson