FORD is making major changes to its executive ranks as it adds new talent and gives a handful of leaders expanded roles as it executes its EV plans.

The appointments and promotions coincide with the retirement of two key executives, product and purchasing chief Hau Thai-Tang and the leader of its customer service division, Frederick Toney.

Ford said Mr Toney will be replaced by Dave Bozeman, who most recently was vice president of Amazon Transportation Services. Mr Bozeman will also lead Ford Blue’s enthusiast vehicle brands in the US, including Bronco, Raptor and Mustang. No replacement for Mr Thai-Tang has yet been announced.

CFO John Lawler will temporarily oversee a makeover of Ford’s global supply chain operations as the company looks for a permanent chief. Mr Lawler has also served as vice president, corporate controller and chief financial officer of global markets from 2016 to 2018. He has also held a number of roles throughout Ford’s global enterprise, including chairman and CEO of Ford China, and CFO for Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, based in Shanghai.

Ford’s vice president of supply chain, Jonathan Jennings, also will take on additional responsibility for supplier technical assistance and quality.

Doug Field, who was chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer, becomes chief advanced product development and technology officer.

In addition to his current duties overseeing EVs and software, he will be in charge of design and vehicle hardware engineering. Mr Field joined Ford from Apple, where he served as vice president of special projects.

Before that, he was senior vice president of engineering at Tesla, where he led the development of the Model 3.

At Apple, he had overall responsibility for development of Apple’s Mac hardware.  He was the first employee and vice president of design and engineering at Segway. Mr Field began his career as a development engineer at Ford from 1987 to 1993.

Lisa Drake, vice president of EV industrialisation, will now also be responsible for manufacturing engineering.

Ms Drake held various positions in product development over nearly 20 years. In 2004, she led the F-150 product and launch team during the construction of the state-of-the-art Dearborn Truck Plant at the Ford Rouge Center.

Her other roles included chief engineer of Lincoln MKC; assistant chief engineer, F-Series Super Duty; program manager roles for Explorer and Expedition. She was also chief engineer for global hybrid and electric vehicles, leading the development and delivery of the Fusion Hybrid, Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, and the C-Max Hybrid and Energi programs.

Ford’s former vice president of industrial platform, operations and new model launch for Ford Blue, Jim Baumbick, now will oversee all product development for Ford’s petrol vehicles as vice president for product development operations, cycle planning and internal combustion engine programs.

Chuck Gray, who has been Ford’s vice president of EV technology, is now vice president of vehicle hardware engineering.

Mr Gray was vice president of vehicle components and systems engineering. He has also served as director of Ford’s global core electrical team

Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement: “As we enter an intense period of execution for Ford Model e and our $50 billion investment in breakthrough electric and digital vehicles, Doug, Lisa and Chuck are taking on larger roles and building out very capable teams.

“Developing and scaling the next generation of electric and software-defined vehicles requires a different focus and mix of talent from the accomplished Ford team and many exciting new colleagues joining our company.”

By Neil Dowling