List of leaders of Ford Motor Company

CEOs and Chairmen

The position of CEO and Chairman have been assumed as a single position, unless noted (CEOs who were not Chairman were generally President at the time). From April to September 2006, the role of President was absorbed into the role of Executive Chairman. ^[1]

CEO and Chairman of Ford Motor Company

No.	Name	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Role
1	John S. Gray	1903	1906	3 years	CEO
2	Henry Ford [2]	1906	1945	39 years	CEO
3	Henry Ford II [2]	1945	1979	34 years	CEO
–	Ernest R. Breech [2]	1955	1960	5 years	Chairman
–	Henry Ford II [3]	1960	March 13, 1980	19.5 years	Chairman
4	Philip Caldwell [4] [5]	1979	February 1, 1985	5.4 years	CEO
–	Philip Caldwell [3] [4] [5]	March 13, 1980	February 1, 1985	4.9 years	Chairman
5	Donald Petersen [5] [6]	February 1, 1985	March 1, 1990	5.1 years	CEO and Chairman
6	Harold Arthur Poling [6]	March 1, 1990	1993	3.6 years	CEO and Chairman
7	Alexander Trotman	November 1993	December 31, 1998	5.2 years	CEO and Chairman
8	Jacques Nasser [7]	January 1, 1999	2001	2.7 years	CEO
–	William Clay Ford Jr.	January 1, 1999	September 5, 2006	7.7 years	Chairman
9	William Clay Ford Jr. [8]	October 30, 2001	September 5, 2006	4.8 years	CEO
–	William Clay Ford Jr. [8]	September 5, 2006	Present	19 years	Executive Chairman
10	Alan Mulally	September 5, 2006	July 1, 2014	7.8 years	CEO
11	Mark Fields	July 1, 2014	May 22, 2017	2.9 years	CEO
12	James Hackett	May 22, 2017	September 30, 2020	3.4 years	CEO
13	Jim Farley [9]	October 1, 2020	Present	5 years	CEO

Presidents

The President of Ford Motor Company has been a key officer since 1903, with four noted vacancies after Semon Knudsen was fired in 1969, after two vice-chairmen were appointed in 1987, Philip Benton Jr's retirement on January 1, 1993, and Jim Padilla's retirement in April 2006. ^{[10] [11] [12]}

President of Ford Motor Company

No.	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
1	John S. Gray [13]	June 17, 1903	October 22, 1906
2	Henry Ford [13]	October 22, 1906	January 1, 1919
3	Edsel Ford [13]	January 1, 1919	May 26, 1943
4	Henry Ford [13]	May 26, 1943	September 21, 1945
5	Henry Ford II [13]	September 21, 1945	November 9, 1960
6	Robert McNamara [13]	November 9, 1960	January 1, 1961	The first non-Ford family member to be president. Left to become Secretary of Defense after just two months.
7	John Dykstra [13]	January 1, 1961	May 1, 1963
8	Arjay Miller [13]	May 1, 1963	February 6, 1968
9	Semon Knudsen [13] [14]	February 6, 1968	September 1969
Office vacant September 1969 – December 10, 1970
–	Robert Hampson [10]	1969	1970	President of Non-Automotive
–	Robert Stevenson [10]	1969	1970	President of Automotive International
–	Lee Iacocca [10]	1969	1970	President of Automotive North America
10	Lee Iacocca [10] [13] [15] [14]	December 10, 1970	July 13, 1978
11	Philip Caldwell [3] [16]	October 16, 1978	March 13, 1980
12	Donald Petersen [3] [13]	March 13, 1980	February 1, 1985
13	Harold Arthur Poling [5] [13] [11]	February 1, 1985	October 13, 1987
Office vacant October 13, 1987 – 1990
14	Philip Benton [12]	1990	January 1, 1993
Office vacant January 1, 1993 – 1999
15	Jacques Nasser [2]	1999	2001
16	William Clay Ford, Jr. [2] [13]	2001	2001
17	Nick Scheele [17]	October 2001	2004	President and COO
17	Nick Scheele	April 2004	February 2005	President
18	Jim Padilla [1]	February 2005	April 2006	President and COO
office vacant April to September 2006
19	Alan Mulally [18]	September 2006	June 2014	President and CEO
20	Mark Fields [19]	July 1, 2014	May 2017	President and CEO
21	Jim Hackett [20]	May 2017	October 2020	President and CEO
22	James D. Farley Jr. [21]	October 2020	present	President and CEO

References

1. Staff Writer (2006-04-21). "Ford President, COO Jim Padilla To Retire". Motor Trend. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
2. "Ford Motor Company chronology". Henry Ford Museum. Archived from the original on February 10, 2014.
3. "Henry Ford II gives up chairmanship at Ford". Democrat and Chronicle . 1980-03-14. p. 7D. Retrieved 2021-01-18– via Newspapers.com.
4. Easterbrook, Gregg (October 1986). "Have you driven a Ford Lately? Thanks to Donald Peterson you may want to". Washington Monthly. Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
5. "Caldwell Leaves as Chairman of Ford Motor Co". The Los Angeles Times . 1985-02-02. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
6. Gardner, Greg (1990-02-27). "Petersen hands over Ford's keys". Detroit Free Press . p. 1. Retrieved 2021-01-18– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Jacques Nasser". NPR. 2000-07-27. Archived from the original on 2002-10-20. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
8. "Nasser out as Ford CEO". CNN. 2001-10-30. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
9. "James D. Farley, Jr". Ford Media. 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
10. "Iacocca Before Chrysler - Ford". lehigh.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
11. Spelich, John (1987-10-14). "2 units formed at Ford". Detroit Free Press . p. 7B. Retrieved 2021-01-18– via Newspapers.com.
12. "Ford reshuffles top ranks". The Baltimore Sun. November 13, 1992. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
13. "Ford Motor Co. Chronology, 1903-2003". The Henry Ford Museum. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
14. "Henry II ends Iacocca's quest for the top spot at Ford Motor". Automotive News. June 16, 2003. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
15. "Lee Iacocca, Visionary Automaker Who led Both Ford and Chrysler, Is Dead at 94". The New York Times. July 2, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
16. Brown, Terry (1978-09-15). "Philip Caldwell named president of Ford Co". Chicago Tribune . p. 76. Retrieved 2021-01-18– via Newspapers.com.
17. "Nick Scheele, former president and COO of Ford, dies at age 70". Automotive News. July 18, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
18. Ford Newsroom, "ALAN MULALLY Retired President and Chief Executive Officer"
19. "Ford Motor Company | Official Site | Our Vehicles, History and Community". media.ford.com. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
20. "Ford Motor Company | Official Site | Our Vehicles, History and Community". media.ford.com. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
21. Ford Newsroom, "JAMES D. FARLEY, JR. President and Chief Executive Officer"