Ford Announces Mark Fields As New CEO, Will Replace Alan Mulally

Ford Motor Company announced Thursday that Mark Fields will run the company after current CEO Alan Mulally retires this summer.

Fields, who’s been Ford’s Chief Operating Officer since 2012, is a long-time company executive with substantial experience overseeing international markets.

Mulally, who joined Ford from Boeing in 2006, will retire July 1, the company said. Mulally, 68, has overseen 19 consecutive quarters of profits since the recession took its toll on Ford and other automakers.

“Alan deservedly will be long remembered for engineering one of the most successful business turnarounds in history,” Ford Executive Chariman Bill Ford said in a statement. “Under Alan’s leadership, Ford not only survived the global economic crisis, it emerged as one of the world’s strongest auto companies.”

Fields, 53, has been at the company for more than 25 years. He previously led Ford’s operations in the Americas as well as oversaw transformations in Ford’s European operations and of the Japanese-based Mazda Motor Corporation, which was previously partnered with Ford.