DEARBORN, Oct. 24, 2007 -- Ford Motor Company [NYSE: F] today announced the appointment of Ray Day as vice president of Communications.
Day will lead all of the company's global external and internal communications and public relations activities, reporting to Jim Farley, the company's new group vice president of Marketing and Communications. Day succeeds Charlie Holleran, 62, who is leaving the company after more than three years of service in leading Ford's Communications team.
"Ray Day is a talented, passionate and tireless communications leader. We are thrilled to have his experience and leadership as we accelerate telling the Ford story to all our stakeholders," said Alan Mulally, Ford's president and chief executive officer. "We also applaud Charlie Holleran for developing the next generation of Ford's communication leadership and for being a strong advocate of closer integration of our Marketing and Communications teams under Jim Farley."
"Ford's quality and vehicles are now on par with the best of the competition, as recent third-party studies have proven. I look forward to working with Ray and our entire team in communicating those strengths to customers and introducing even more of them to the family of Ford," added Farley, who was in Dearborn this week to meet with members of the Marketing and Communications teams and the agencies who work with them.
Most recently serving as executive director of Corporate Communications, Day, 41, has been spearheading Ford's communications strategy, including plans to transform the company's communications model for today's changing consumer and media landscape.
Day joined Ford in 1989 and spent most of his career leading Ford's global communications and public relations activities related to the company's products, design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, brand development and corporate issues. He lived for four years in Europe -- serving as head of Ford's European Product Public Affairs in both Germany and the UK -- and started his Ford career leading the company's internal communications network. He was a newspaper reporter and editor before joining Ford.
