Steve Adams is Ford’s Global Vehicle Line Director, Commercial Vehicles. As such he is responsible for the company’s global commercial vehicles including Transit and Transit Connect. He was also recently elected a Board member at Ford Otosan, the joint venture company which is part owned by Ford and Koch Holdings and is based in Koaceli, Turkey.
Adams was appointed to his current position effective September 1, 2008 and reports to Joseph Bakaj, Vice President Global Product Programs and Product Development, Ford of Europe.
Prior to this appointment Adams was Vehicle Line Director, Large and Luxury Programmes, Ford of Europe, a position that was based in Germany. In this role he led the vehicle line team responsible for the Ford Mondeo, S-MAX (Car of the Year 2007) and Galaxy range of products. Adams has also previously held the position of Chief Engineer, Large and Luxury Programmes during a period which included the planning, development and launch of the current Ford of Europe large car family.
Previous positions included three years as the Ford of Europe PD Quality Director and four years as a Body Engineering Manager. His early career with Ford included periods in a number of product planning and project management positions associated with a variety of vehicle, engine and transmission programmes including Product Planning/Project Manager on the original Ford Focus which went on to become Car of the Year in both Europe and the US.
Adams was sponsored at university by Ford of Britain and completed his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree with honours in mechanical engineering at the City University, London. Since he joined Ford in 1976, he has had assignments in Britain, the US and Germany. His recent appointment as Global Vehicle Line Director, Commercial Vehicles, sees him return to the UK where he is based at Ford’s Technical Development Centre at Dunton, Essex.
Born in London in 1955, Adams is married and has a teenage daughter.