Ford Gets A New CEO To Lead The 114 Year Old Company

It was just a few days ago that Ford’s CEO Mark Fields announced he wanted to retire and the company has already found their replacement.

The man to lead Ford now will be 62-year old Jim Hackett, a former chief executive at Steelcase, an office furniture maker. Hackett was offiicially announced as Field’s replacement on Monday.

Bill Ford, Ford’s executive Chairman and the great grandson of Henry Ford, who founded the company, is enthusiastic about Hackett. He has said Hackett is a visionary who can help Ford get more modern.

“He’s really a proven transformational thinker,” Ford said. “He’s not just a futurist. He’s a very good operational leader.”

Hackett was the CEO of Steelcase for 20 years and has been a big reason the company transformed and left cubicles behind for open wide office plans. He was also the interim athletic director at the University of Michigan for two years, in 2014 to 2016. During this time he not only negotiated a deal with Nike worth $174 million but was able to get Jim
Harbaugh as a football coach.

“The biggest challenge I had (at Steelcase), and I will have here, is to have everybody see the future. They can see their opportunity in that. And secondly, that it’s our right to win, and we don’t have to cede that to anybody, Tesla or any of them,” Hackett state at a news conference at Ford’s world headquarters. “I love that challenge because I know how to do that.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and have not been compensated for this article.