Jim Farley gets to wear two hats at Ford

Jim Farley will climb aboard at Ford in mid-November, after defecting from his position as Group Vice President and General Manager of Lexus. His role at Ford will be dual-fold. Farley will be heading up the effort to entice people to buy Ford vehicles as Group Vice President of Marketing and Communications. In addition to his MarCom responsibilities, Farley will also be taking on the U.S. marketing, sales, and service for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, a job most recently filled by the retired Cisco Codina. Ford needs to get North American consumers excited about their cars, and having Farley in charge of global marketing and communications as well as US sales makes us think that there will be some connection between the two efforts, keeping the messaging coherent and focused. Being able to see how sales are driven by marketing efforts, and Farley's track record at Toyota and Lexus would make it appear that he's equipped to understand and react to sales metrics. That understanding hopefully bodes well for Ford, and all the rhetoric is exceedingly positive about how everyone all around is excited for Farley to come aboard and make a miracle.

Ford's press release is after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

FORD'S JIM FARLEY TO DRIVE U.S. SALES OPERATIONS IN ADDITION TO GLOBAL MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS

DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 2 – Ford Motor Company [NYSE: F] announced today that Jim Farley, the company's new group vice president of Marketing and Communications, will add direct leadership of U.S. marketing, sales and service for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles to his duties when he joins Ford in mid-November.

Farley will assume the duties of Francisco Codina, who recently retired from Ford. Farley will lead Ford's U.S. sales and marketing operations, while integrating and accelerating the company's marketing and communications activities worldwide.

"We are making great progress on delivering the vehicles people really want and value. Our quality and safety are on par with the best of the competition. We have the strongest product family we have ever had," said Alan Mulally, Ford's president and CEO. "Now with Jim's expanded role, he and Mark Fields will work together to help everybody understand that Ford cars and trucks are absolutely worthy of consideration once again."

Farley will report to Fields, Ford's executive vice president and president of The Americas, as the head of marketing, sales and service in the U.S. As the company's most senior marketing and communications leader, Farley will continue to report directly to Mulally.

"Integrating Jim directly into the U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service team is smart business," Fields said. "He is a world-class talent who can help us better engage customers and bring to life all of the reasons Ford has earned a place on consumers' shopping lists again."

Farley also will continue to work closely with the company's worldwide business unit leaders and global product development organization to lead Ford's global marketing effort. He is eager to take on the additional sales and service role in the U.S. and to help propel the company's transformation plan toward automotive leadership and profitable growth.

"Ford is one of the world's most admired companies because of our ability to develop iconic products that connect with customers – and it all begins with ensuring we are strong in our home market," Farley said. "I look forward to working with the entire U.S. team as we engage customers and introduce even more of them to the great family of Ford."

Farley most recently was group vice president and general manager of Lexus, responsible for all sales, marketing and customer satisfaction activities for Toyota's luxury brand. He joined Toyota in 1990 in the strategic-planning department after receiving his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School.