F Ford Motor Company

By Christina Rogers 

Ford Motor Co. is losing two executives it recently recruited from Silicon Valley, the latest in a series of prominent executives to leave the car maker since Chief Executive Jim Hackett was hired last year to forge fresh thinking at the company.

Musa Tariq, a former Apple Inc. executive hired last year to be Ford's first brand chief, is leaving the company after a little more than a year on the job, the company said Wednesday.

Raj Rao, another hire from Silicon Valley tapped to run Ford's smart-mobility division, has also elected to leave the company for personal reasons, effective May 1, a Ford spokeswoman said.

Messrs. Tariq and Rao were among a number of auto-industry outsiders hired by former CEO Mark Fields before his firing last May to help the Dearborn, Mich., auto maker better compete with many new tech players looking to upend the car business.

In his mid-30s, Mr. Tariq was among the youngest corporate officers at Ford and was in charge of building and differentiating Ford's brand world-wide. Ford's marketing chief Joy Falotico will now assume Mr. Tariq's brand responsibilities going forward.

Mr. Rao came to Ford from 3M Co., where he previously ran the company's Silicon Valley digital hub. He was hired on two years ago as CEO of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, a subsidiary created to oversee the company's investment and partnerships in new ventures, such as ride hailing and bike sharing.

Mr. Rao previously had reported directly to Mr. Hackett, who was chairman of the mobility division before becoming CEO. Ford has since reorganized the unit, which has employees in both Michigan and Silicon Valley, to focus on a handful of core areas, such as connectivity and Ford's van-shuttle service Chariot, and named new leadership.

Their exits comes as Mr. Hackett, nearing his first year on the job, continues to reshape the leadership team following the departure of several top executives hired or elevated by Mr. Fields. Among them is John Casesa, Ford's former strategy chief who left last fall, and Stephen Odell, who led global marketing until his retirement in November.

The company was also rocked last month by the abrupt firing of North American Chief Raj Nair following misconduct allegations. Mr. Nair, a 31-year veteran at Ford, was elevated to the post by Mr. Hackett last spring as part of a broader management reshuffle and ran Ford's most profitable region.

Mr. Hackett, so far, has largely tapped executives from within to fill out his leadership team, aiming to return focus to the company's conventional auto-making business. Mr. Fields had come under criticism that the company was straying too far away from its core business in pursuit of technology bets with questionable profit potential.

Ford executives, however, are still trying to allay investor concerns about falling profits in a flat U.S. car market and prove to Wall Street that it has a clear strategy.

Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2018 18:59 ET (22:59 GMT)

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