Meet Mark Fields – Ford’s New Head Honcho

When Alan Mulally departed from Ford Motor Company as CEO on July 1st, he was succeeded by Mark Fields who was unit chief of Ford Motor Company’s Americas Operations. On that day, it was also revealed what the new CEO would make and what benefits he would receive. Let’s see who Mark Fields is and some of those benefits he’ll get.

Mark Fields has been with Ford Motor Company since 1989 and when Ford put him in charge of Mazda Motor Corporation in 1998, he was the youngest to run a major Japanese company at 38 years old.

In 2002, he became chairman of the Premier Automotive Group, which included Lincoln, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo. In 2005, he returned to the Americas division in 2005 where in 2006 he was named business unit chief of Ford’s Americas Operations at 45.

So, he’s had a very successful career with Ford Motor Company and it wasn’t like as if he just took over. He’s actually been running Mulally’s weekly business review meetings and was in charge of Ford’s day-to-day operations.

So, he’s had direct run of Ford just as Mulally has and will most likely not change what Mulally has done. When he was named as successor, Chairman Bill Ford stated, “we’ve had very few, maybe never, had a planned and smooth transition, all the way back to my great-grandfather.”

So, what does the new CEO of Ford get for pay and benefits? Well, that’s where he’ll differ in Mulally where he earned $2-million per year, Fields will only get $1.25-million. He’s not even making the same salary as GM’s CEO Mary Barra; she’s getting $1.6-million.

He won’t even get near the bonuses that Mulally got. Mulally’s $5.88 million is reduced to $3.5-million for Fields. While it is shorter than what Mulally was getting, it is a 33-percent increase in his former pay.

He’ll also get access to Ford’s private jet services for “safety and to maximize his availability for company business.” Not sure about safety, but can understand that need for private jets in company business now that he’s in charge of all of Ford.

At $1.25-million, his time is money and it’s best to have him available at a moment’s notice. However, he will probably be a little gun-shy as he caught hell after using private travel on the company’s dime to visit family in Florida in 2007.

Will he be worth it, though? Time will only tell but he’s had direct working with Alan Mulally and he did turn around Ford when it needed it and kept the ship afloat and performing. So, we know he’s gotten the correct breeding but will he be able to keep that streak alive?

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