Ford_News
11-07-2014, 11:24 AM
Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs (http://www.autoblog.com/category/hirings-firings/), Marketing/Advertising (http://www.autoblog.com/category/marketing-advertising/), Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/)
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"We are excited to see Jim and Stephen take on these new roles as they bring unique skills, experience and fresh perspectives to these critical positions." - Mark Fields
Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/) marketing chief Jim Farley is taking over the company's troubled European operations as part of an executive shuffle confirmed on Friday morning.
Farley will switch jobs with current Ford of Europe boss, Stephen Odell (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/stephen+odell/), who has led the unit since 2010. The moves are effective Jan. 1.
"We are excited to see Jim and Stephen take on these new roles as they bring unique skills, experience and fresh perspectives to these critical positions," Ford CEO Mark Fields said in a statement.
Farley, 52, joined Ford in 2007. He has overseen Ford's global marketing, sales and service since 2010, and it's the first time the automaker has had a single executive handle all of those responsibilities. He also briefly oversaw the Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/lincoln/) luxury brand from December 2012 to August 2014.
Farley came to Ford after a long career with Toyota (http://www.autoblog.com/toyota/), where he had worked since 1990, including stints as head of Lexus and the Toyota brand's marketing in the United States. Earlier in his career, he was widely credited for the successful launch of Scion (http://www.autoblog.com/scion/), Toyota's youth-oriented brand.
Farley is one of the industry's most outspoken executives, and this year he drew fire for saying that Ford tracks its customers by using in-car technologies (a statement he later revised (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/10/ford-farley-apologizes-for-gps-tracking-customers-comment/)). He also was quoted in the 2011 book Once Upon A Car as saying he wanted to "beat Chevrolet (http://www.autoblog.com/chevrolet/) on the head with a bat," along with another profane statement about General Motors.
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/2400x2154+0+0/resize/250x224!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/29777e94dffd4436a32d3fc7d816e12c/201051854/bio-stephenodell.jpgOdell, 59, takes over Farley's position, and will oversee Ford's global marketing efforts. The industry veteran has been at the company for 34 years, including stints as CEO (http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/02/stephen-odell-appointed-volvo-ceo-and-president/) of former Ford division, Volvo (http://www.autoblog.com/volvo/), from 2008 to 2010.
He also led marketing for Mazda (http://www.autoblog.com/mazda/) (another former Ford unit), and is credited with executing the "zoom-zoom" campaign that has defined the company as a maker of sporty cars.
Meanwhile, Ford also announced Friday that Nick Smither will retire as group vice president and chief information officer. He'll be replaced by Marcy Klevorn. Similarly, Kim Pittel will take over as vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, replacing the retiring Robert Brown.
Continue reading Jim Farley to lead Ford of Europe (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/)
Jim Farley to lead Ford of Europe (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.mnfords.com/rss-term-of-use/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20990224/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/#comments)
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"We are excited to see Jim and Stephen take on these new roles as they bring unique skills, experience and fresh perspectives to these critical positions." - Mark Fields
Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/) marketing chief Jim Farley is taking over the company's troubled European operations as part of an executive shuffle confirmed on Friday morning.
Farley will switch jobs with current Ford of Europe boss, Stephen Odell (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/stephen+odell/), who has led the unit since 2010. The moves are effective Jan. 1.
"We are excited to see Jim and Stephen take on these new roles as they bring unique skills, experience and fresh perspectives to these critical positions," Ford CEO Mark Fields said in a statement.
Farley, 52, joined Ford in 2007. He has overseen Ford's global marketing, sales and service since 2010, and it's the first time the automaker has had a single executive handle all of those responsibilities. He also briefly oversaw the Lincoln (http://www.autoblog.com/lincoln/) luxury brand from December 2012 to August 2014.
Farley came to Ford after a long career with Toyota (http://www.autoblog.com/toyota/), where he had worked since 1990, including stints as head of Lexus and the Toyota brand's marketing in the United States. Earlier in his career, he was widely credited for the successful launch of Scion (http://www.autoblog.com/scion/), Toyota's youth-oriented brand.
Farley is one of the industry's most outspoken executives, and this year he drew fire for saying that Ford tracks its customers by using in-car technologies (a statement he later revised (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/10/ford-farley-apologizes-for-gps-tracking-customers-comment/)). He also was quoted in the 2011 book Once Upon A Car as saying he wanted to "beat Chevrolet (http://www.autoblog.com/chevrolet/) on the head with a bat," along with another profane statement about General Motors.
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/2400x2154+0+0/resize/250x224!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/29777e94dffd4436a32d3fc7d816e12c/201051854/bio-stephenodell.jpgOdell, 59, takes over Farley's position, and will oversee Ford's global marketing efforts. The industry veteran has been at the company for 34 years, including stints as CEO (http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/02/stephen-odell-appointed-volvo-ceo-and-president/) of former Ford division, Volvo (http://www.autoblog.com/volvo/), from 2008 to 2010.
He also led marketing for Mazda (http://www.autoblog.com/mazda/) (another former Ford unit), and is credited with executing the "zoom-zoom" campaign that has defined the company as a maker of sporty cars.
Meanwhile, Ford also announced Friday that Nick Smither will retire as group vice president and chief information officer. He'll be replaced by Marcy Klevorn. Similarly, Kim Pittel will take over as vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, replacing the retiring Robert Brown.
Continue reading Jim Farley to lead Ford of Europe (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/)
Jim Farley to lead Ford of Europe (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.mnfords.com/rss-term-of-use/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20990224/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/07/jim-farley-lead-ford-europe/)