Yuanyuan Gong Celebrates a Milestone Promotion

Since joining Ford as a finance analyst in 1994, Yuanyuan has held a variety of financial roles and positions in the Ford China Operations team.

SHANGHAI, China – Yuanyuan Gong had reason to celebrate her recent appointment as Manufacturing and Material Planning and Logistics (MP&L) Controller, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa.

Yuanyuan's promotion, recognising her dedication, commitment and expertise, is notable not only because she is the first Ford China local national employee to be appointed to a Leadership Level 4 (LL4) position. She is also the only female LL4-ranked executive in the current APA finance community.

In this short interview, she shares more about her new role and career development path with Ford.

Q: Congratulations Yuanyuan. How does it feel to be the first local national employee in China to be promoted to a LL4 position in APA Finance?

A mix of great excitement, pride and a few nerves. I’m really looking forward to the new role but am aware that I will need to work hard and continue to learn and develop new skills to keep progressing.

Q: What will be the primary responsibilities in your new role?

Providing financial management support to the APA manufacturing and MP&L function, as well as IT, in vital areas regarding cost performance, budgeting and business planning.

Q: In terms of career development, how have your previous roles and the influence of colleagues and managers enhanced your progress?

My first role and subsequent appointments have enabled me to continuously build my financial knowledge base. In terms of management skills, I credit a lot of my development to support and input from colleagues and managers. Over the years, I have had the chance to work with many terrific and talented people.

Q: What career development advice/tips would you offer to young aspiring colleagues?

I have a simple philosophy – “Do a good job and the opportunities will find you.”

I also encourage colleagues to learn something from every role to ensure that they have a strong building bock of skills and knowledge to help them embrace new jobs as they arise. In this regard, we are fortunate that there are many opportunities in our fast growing APA region.

Q: Finally, what makes working at Ford special?

I like the friendly working environment, the strong team spirit and our pro-diversity environment. We recognise, respect and celebrate cultural differences.

I think our people development programmes are also second to none – especially the rotation initiative.