Another Young Ford Joins Ford

[JoeT]

Another Young Ford Signs Up

Bill Koenig 14/02/06
www.smh.com.au

Henry Ford III, a fifth-generation member of the Ford family, will join Ford Motor Co's labour relations staff in the next couple of weeks, said his father Edsel, a director of the company.

"He said it was his time to start," Edsel Ford II said of his 26-year-old son.

"I said one of the most important jobs is labour relations. I said I think you can handle that," Edsel told reporters at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention on Sunday in Orlando, Florida.

Ford's chief executive officer, William Clay Ford jnr, 48, and Edsel Ford II, 57, are fourth-generation Fords.

Henry III is the grandson of Henry Ford II, who ran the No.2 US car maker from 1945 until 1979.

William Clay Ford jnr, also known as Bill, took the reins of the company after the ousting of Jac Nasser, a Lebanese who grew up in Australia and ran the Australian operations before taking over the top post.

Henry III, nicknamed Sonny, is named after company founder Henry Ford.

Edsel said his son had had several jobs, including two years of teaching middle school in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Ford family controls 40 per cent of voting power at the company through a special class of stock. Bill and Edsel are both on the board.

Bill's father, William Clay Ford, 80, stepped down from the board last year.

Edsel told reporters his son had conferred with executives including Bill Ford and group vice-president Joe Laymon, who oversees the human resources section, before making his decision.

"My father said there were no crown princes at Ford," Edsel told reporters. "I think it's terrific the fifth generation is taking such an interest."

Henry is Edsel's eldest son. He becomes the second member of the family's fifth generation to join Ford, which is based in Dearborn, Michigan. Elena Ford, 39, was the first and is a marketing executive.

Fifth-generation family members were "going to have to make it on their own", Edsel said.

[asim]

Nice...the Ford family retains that spirit to keep Ford alive...Wagoner has no connection like that...

[Gm786]

Good for Ford.

[Blair1118]

I think its nice that the family is staying involved with the company its very good from a PR perspective it kinda makes the ford company as a whole seem more "mom and pop" ish

[Mikkoo]

And to think that one day this guy might run Ford. He's had the humble working backround as a middle school teacher. I respect that, as I'm a elementary school substitute. It's great to work with today's youth, so
impressed with Henry III.

[stevecmh]

I think its really cool that the family name is still going on.

[56 Starchief]

Originally Posted by Gm786

Good for Ford.

i hope your rolling your eyes because GM has no such fire to keep the flame, not for petty and baseless anti-Ford reasons

[Gm786]

Originally Posted by 56 Starchief

i hope your rolling your eyes because GM has no such fire to keep the flame, not for petty and baseless anti-Ford reasons

My reasons are not petty and baseless reasons. But anyways, good for Ford.

[69Firebird400]

It sounds like nepotism to me. Yes, the Ford family owns a lot of the company, but public shareholders own the majority. Is it just a coincidence that someone whose name is on every car they make is Chairman & CEO, or was Bill Ford really the most qualified person that the board of directors could find to lead the company? Maybe he was the most qualified, since so many Fords sit on the board (at least two at this point).

A publicly-traded company has an obligation to its shareholders to hire the best and most qualified individuals for its staff, not necessarily people with the same name as its founder. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this guy, but it sounds a little fishy to me.

Check out the Yahoo Finance profile for Ford at http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=F, in particular the corporate governance quotient:

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Ford Motor Co.'s Corporate Governance Quotient (CGQ®) as of 1-Feb-06 is better than 7.4% of S&P 500 companies and 56.6% of Automobiles & Components companies.

What does this mean? Here is the explanation you get when you click that CGQ link just above:

Corporate Governance Quotient (CGQ®), a corporate governance rating system provided by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) on over 8,000 companies worldwide, evaluates the strengths, deficiencies and risks of a company's corporate governance practices and board of directors. CGQ uses a comprehensive set of objectives and consistently applied criteria for each of the companies rated. The database features corporate governance rankings on more than 8,000 companies worldwide, and includes underlying data points for up to 63 corporate governance variables, categorized under four areas of focus: 1) board of directors, 2) audit, 3) anti-takeover provisions, 4) executive and director compensation. Some of the variables are reviewed together under the premise that corporate governance is enhanced when selected combinations of these variables are adopted. To facilitate analytical comparison, each company is scored individually, relative to its market index and its industry group.

It basically means that institutional investors aren't thrilled in general with Ford's governance practices. Likely at the top of their concerns are the super voting rights that the family's class of stock has and all of the Ford family members on the board. Not like this is a secret though; if you are OK with that, buy the stock; if not, don't.

Edit: By the way, check out GM's...very good! It helps to have independent directors, I guess!

General Motors Corporation's Corporate Governance Quotient (CGQ®) as of 1-Feb-06 is better than 97.9% of S&P 500 companies and 100% of Automobiles & Components companies.

[ChevroletRevived]

Very interesting. It's nice to see the Ford family name being kept alive with members still participating in the running of the company. It's also good that the family still has somewhat control. I always hate it when the company families lose control by the letting the company go public....but they went public along time ago, and they still have control, and I think that's real neat. Anyway, I'll stop by babbling. LOL.

[FoMoCo Fan]

The Ford family's involvment in the company and control of the board, might just be the ONLY thing to save the company from bankruptcy.

[2020]

I thought "labour" was spelled labor??

[Dead Dude]

Originally Posted by 2020

I thought "labour" was spelled labor??

Not in Australia.

[JoeT]

We use the Queen's English out here, like most of the English speaking world. The words 'spelt', not 'spelled'.

Personally, I've never been keen on someone being place into a position simply because of family relations.

[FordFan]

I KNEW IT!!
i knew Nasser had Lebnanise origins!! not saying much, his name.. Nasser.